Left-handed batter Shamim Hossain hit 108 off 66 balls to guide Abahani Limited to an 111-run victory against City Club in the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League on Monday. Abahani batted first and lost five wickets for 138 runs. In the sixth wicket stand, Shamim and Jaker Ali added 171 runs on the board. Along the way, Shamim hit a ton and Jaker scored 65. Abahani ended up on 309 for five in 50 overs. In reply, City Club tumbled for 198 in 42 overs. For them, Ashik Ul Alam and Moinul Islam hit a fifty each. Arafat Sunny bagged five wickets for Abahani. Also read: Taskin overlooked IPL call for national duty In the other two matches of the day, Prime Bank beat the Legends of Rupganj by four wickets, and Gazi Group Cricketers beat Khelaghar Samaj Kalyan Samity. Raqibul Hasan scored a century for Rupganj, while Shahadat Hossain Dipu hit a century for Prime Bank Cricket Club. Also read: Shakib to continue playing in SA despite family issues

Abahani Limited won the title of the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Divison Twenty20 Cricket League beating Prime Bank Cricket Club by eight runs on Saturday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. It was Abahani’s record 21st title of Dhaka’s top-flight cricket event, and three in a row.  Ahead of this game, both Abahani and Prime Bank had equal points, and thus, their last match on the Super League stage became a final. Abahani won the toss and opted to bat first. They posted a challenging total of 150 runs for seven in 20 overs. In later, wrapped up Prime Bank for 142 for nine in 20 overs, and won the game by eight runs.  Mohammad Saifuddin, the right-handed pacer and left-handed batsman, starred in this match scoring 21 off 13 balls and taking four wickets conceding 36 runs in four overs.  Also read: Abahani seal top spot beating Prime Doleshwar Prime Bank’s Alok Kapali remained unbeaten for 34 off 17 deliveries, but his effort went in vain as Shahidul Islam defended 16 runs off the last over.  Prime Bank needed 55 runs in the last 30 balls to lift the title against, but they only could manage 46 runs.  In the last two overs, Prime Bank needed 32 runs. Alok hit Saifuddin for a six and four to score 16 runs, and they needed 16 off the last over.  The first ball was as high as his shoulder, but the leg-umpire refused to call it a no-ball. Alok looked unhappy, and off the last five balls, he only managed seven runs.  Rubel Mia was the highest runs getter for Prime Bank scoring 41, but he faced as many as 43 balls. His slow batting eventually led Prime Bank to the dire need to score quickly at the late of the order.  Saifuddin was tremendous with the ball. Despite conceding nine runs per over, he picked up wickets in crucial times. Mehedi Hasan Rana also did well with the ball taking two wickets. Also read: Abahani, Prime Bank, Prime Doleshwar in Pole Position to Win DPL T20 2021 Earlier, Abahani lost their first wickets before adding any run on the board. Inside the first two overs, they lost both their openers— Mohammad Naim and Munim Shahriar— for 0 and 3 respectively.  Liton Das, one of the mainstays of Abahani, in the absence of Mushfiqur Rahim, also failed to do well as he fell for 19. But in the fourth-wicket stand, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mosaddek Hossain added 70 runs. Shanto scored 45 off 40 while Mosaddek added 40 off 39 balls.  Coming into bat at seven, Saifuddin posted 21 off 13 balls with two sixes. He helped Abahani touched the 150-run mark.  For this all-round performance, Saifuddin won the player of the match award.  Saifuddin ended up Dhaka League scalping 26 wickets in 16 matches with the best of taking four wickets conceding 18 runs. He also did well with the bat scoring 94 runs at the strike rate of 138.26. He batted at the late order in most of the matches. 

In an eventful game thanks to Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammedan Sporting Club beat Abahani Limited by 31 runs under the DL method on Friday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  Mohammedan won the toss in this game and opted to bat first to post 145 for six in 20 overs, with Shakib Al Hasan hitting 37 off 27 balls with one four and two sixes. In reply, Abahani were struggling with their score on 31/3 off 5.5 overs when the umpires were forced to take the players off as the rain arrived. Read:Shakib apologises after thrashing and kicking stumps After the rain, Abahani’s target was revised to 76 in nine overs. Abahani needed to score 45 in 19 balls, but they fell short of 31 runs. Shuvagata Hom bagged three wickets conceding 17 runs in three overs. It was the fourth win of Mohammedan in seven games, while it was the second defeat of Abahani in as many games.  In other games of the da, Prime Bank beat Legends of Rupganj by 101 runs riding on the fifties of Anamul Haque Bijoy and Rony Talukdar, and Nahidul Islam starred with the ball, emdi9ng with figures of 3/15.  Read:DPL: Shakib loses cool; kicks stumps, throws them away Sheikh Jamal beat Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club by three wickets, riding on Ziaur Rahman scintillating knock of 53 off just 33 balls, featuring just one boundary that crossed the rope, but five more that cleared it. For Prime Doleshwar, Imran Uzzaman and Shamim Hossain played good knocks scoring 65 and 49 respectively, but their efforts went in vain.  Shinepukur Cricket Club beat Old DOHS beat by seven wickets with 5 balls remaining. Mohammad Rakib hits 56 for DOHS but his effort was not enough to avoid a defeat. Tanzid Hasan hit 79 to guide his team to a victory.  Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity beat Partex Sporting Club by 15 runs under the DL method while Gazi Group Cricketers beat Brothers Union by 15 runs under the DL method as well.  Read:Three defeats in a row: Mohammedan’s struggle continues With these matches, the seventh round of fixtures is now complete. Sitting pretty at the top of the points table at this stage are Prime Bank with 12 points, having won six out of their seven games. Abahani, Prime Doleshwar, Mohammedan, Sheikh Jamal and Gazi Group fill the next five spots on the table, from 2nd to 6th, in the order their names are written.  

Bangladesh stalwart Mushfiqur Rahim sought permission of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to skip the three-match T20I series taking place in Zimbabwe next month. Read:Sheikh Jamal end Mohammedan’s winning run A BCB official on Monday confirmed that the wicketkeeper-batsman asked to not count him for Zimbabwe T20Is. However, Mushfiqur is available for the solitary Test and three-match ODI series. “He has requested for leave to skip T20Is series,” Minajul Abedin, chief selector of BCB, told the media. “The decision will be taken once he submits his request to the cricket operation department officially.” Read:Dhaka League T20: Khelaghar shock Abahani Former Bangladesh captain, Mushfiqur, didn’t clear why he is not available for Zimbabwe T20Is. However, Minhajul believes that playing a lot of cricket might have exhausted the batsman. Mushfiqur is currently busy playing the ongoing Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League. He is representing Abahani Limited in this T20 event.  

Abahani Limited registered a 7-wicket win (D/L method)  against Partex Sporting Club  on the rain-hit opening day of the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division T20 Cricket League at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  Abahani skipper Mushfiqur Rahim was unbeaten on 38 off 26 deliveries to guide his team chase down 70 runs in 9.2 overs as rain interrupted the match after the first innings and cut the chase short to 10 overs for his star studded team. Also Read: Dhaka Premier League T20 begins Monday Earlier Partex scored 120 for 5 from 20 overs after winning the toss and opting to bat first.  Tasamul Haque, the captain of the side , scored  65 off 54 balls with nine fours. Moin Khan and Abbas Musa were the other two batsmen to reach  a two-digit score of 22 and 17 respectively.  Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan Rana picked up a brace each for Abahani.  Rain came pouring down at Mirpur as the chase for Abahani was cut short to 10 overs and they required 70 runs to win according to D/L method. Also Read: Walton named Dhaka Premier League title sponsor  It was a relatively easy total for a batting unit consisting of national team stalwarts including Najmul Hossain Shanto, Naim Sheikh, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain and Saifuddin. But it was not the case, as experienced campaigner Mushfiqur Rahim had to play a responsible innings to rescue the side, much like he did with the national side in the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka. Najmul Hossain and Afif Hossain— failed to impress with the bat as they both fell for 2 . On the other hand , matches between Old DOHS Sports Club and Legends of Rupganj, and Brothers Union and Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club ended with no result due to the rain in BKSP.  Mahmudul Hasan Joy of DOHS scored 78 off 55 balls with seven fours and two sixes while Rakin Ahmed of the same team scored 46 off 33 balls. But their efforts went in vain as the match ended up without a result. They had scored 171 for four in 20 overs.  Brothers Union scored 127 for seven in 18.4 before the rain hit the game, with Mizanur Rahman, Junaid Siddique and Alauddin Babu scoring 31, 48 and 20 respectively.   

Sonam Sultana Soma of Abahani Limited and Nowrin Sultana Mahi of Bangladesh Army moved into the women’s singles final of the Federation Cup (Ranking) Table Tennis Tournament eliminating their rivals in the semis at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium here on Monday.