Walton Central Zone won the Independence Cup beating BCB South Zone by six wickets on Saturday in Sylhet. Before this 50-over event, Central Zone had won the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) title as well. Central Zone won the toss and bowled first. They displayed a wonderful bowling effort to restrict South Zone only for 163 in 48.5 overs with the highest score of 35 by Pinak Ghosh. Mosaddek Hossain, Nazmul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Hasan Murad and Mrittunjoy Chowdhury bagged two wickets each. In reply, Central Zone chased down the target in 42.3 overs with six wickets in hand and won the match and the event. Read: U-19 World Cup: Bangladesh to start campaign taking on England Sunday The other teams who took part in Independence Cup are BCB North Zone and Islami Bank East Zone. Imrul Kayes of East Zone scored the highest 165 runs with two half-centuries, while Soumya Sarkar, Mahedi Hasan, Nayeem Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman have jointly bagged seven wickets each. The best bowling figure belongs to Mustafizur who bagged four wickets conceding 63 runs, while the best batting innings was recorded by Naeem Islam who posted 72.  

After winning two consecutive matches, Walton Central Zone lost their third match against BCB South Zone by five wickets in the ongoing Independence Cup on Thursday in Sylhet. Despite this defeat, Central Zone, along with South Zone, marched to the final of the event which will be played on January 15. Central Zone batted first after losing the toss and posted a moderate total of 220 runs for eight wickets. Abu Hider Rony was the most exciting batter for them hitting 54 only for 27 balls with six fours and four sixes. Along with him, Abdul Mazid and Mosaddek Hossain also have done well with the bat scoring 46 and 44 respectively. Also read: Central Zone continue on winning streak For South Zone, Mustafizur Rahman bagged four wickets conceding 63 runs while Mahedi Hasan took three wickets. In reply, Pinak Ghosh and Towhid Hridoy scored 54 and 65 runs respectively to guide South Zone to a five-wicket victory. Zakir Hasan has also done well scoring 40 runs. Hasan Murad scalped two wickets for the Central Zone but the other bowlers failed to do well for them. In the other match of the day, Islami Bank East Zone beat BCB North Zone by four wickets. Imrul Kayes hit 71 for East Zone and won the player of the match award. Also read: Most Fierce Bowling Performances in BPL History North Zone batted first and posted 216 losing all wickets with the help of the fifties by Marshal Ayub, 54, and Mahmudullah Riyad, 66. In reply, East Zone chased the target in 37.5 overs with Imrul scoring the highest for them. Tamim Iqbal scored 35 for them.

Walton Central Zone continued their winning streak in the ongoing Independence Cup— a 50-over tournament. On Tuesday, Central Zone beat BCB North Zone by 28 runs in Sylhet, while in the other match, BCB South Zone beat Islami Bank by three wickets.  Read:Five Shining Stars of Bangladesh in NZ vs BAN Test Series 2022 It was the second win of the Central Zone in the event.  North Zone won the toss and sent Central Zone bat first who posted a challenging total of 262 runs for five wickets in 50 overs.  Abdul Mazid and Mossaddek Hossain scored fifty each while Soumya Sarkar and Al Amin reached 40-park.  For North Zone, Shafiqul Islam scalped two wickets.  In reply, North Zone tumbled for 234 runs for nine in 50 overs. For them, Naeem Islam scored 70 while Mahmudullah Riyad posted 43.  For Central Zone, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury grabbed three wickets.  Read:Bangladesh end New Zealand tour with Liton’s imperious ton In the other match, East Zone posted 192 for eight while batting first with the highest of 69 by Imrul Kayes. Mustafizur Rahman bagged three wickets for South Zone.  In reply, South Zone scored 193 for seven in 45.5 overs with Mahedi Hasan scoring 37. For East Zone, Nayeem Hasan and Afif Hossain taking three wickets each. 

In the first-round matches of the Independence Cup, a 50-over event involving the teams of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL), Walton Central Zone and BCB North Zone won their respective matches in Sylhet on Sunday. Central Zone, who won the longer version edition of BCL this year, beat Islami Bank East Zone by 22 runs in a low-scoring affair at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. East Zone won the toss and sent Central Zone to bat first, who posted 177 all out in 43.2 overs with Mohammad Mithun scoring the highest 37. Along with him, Mizanur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan also did well with the bat posting 36 and 35 respectively. For East Zone, right-arm pacers Rubel Hossain, and Rejaur Rahman Raja bagged three wickets each while Tanvir Islam took one wicket. Also read: Pumped-up Tigers aim for monumental series win against Blackcaps In reply, East Zone tumbled for 155 despite two 30-plus scores by Rony Talukdar and Irfan Sukkur. They managed to set in the middle but failed to carry on. Mohammad Ashraful suffered a duck while Imrul Kayes posted 25 for them. For Central Zone, Shakib, Hasan Murad and Soumya Sarkar bagged two wickets each while Abu Hider Rony and Mosaddek Hossain took one wicket each. Also read: Series win against New Zealand to inspire future Tigers: Domingo In the other match of the day at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground, South Zone batted first and scored 162 with a fifty by Towhid Hridoy, and 47 from Pinak Ghosh. For North Zone, Sunzamul Islam and Shafiqul Islam scalped three wickets each while Naeem Islam bagged two. In reply, opener Parvez Hossain Emon and Naeem hit a half-century each to guide South Zone to an eight-wicket win. While Parvez fell for 54 off 54 balls, Naeem remained unbeaten for 66.

Walton Central Zone is on the verge of the second win in the ongoing Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) against Islami Bank East Zone at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  At the end of day three, Central Zone needs 112 runs with nine wickets in hand. They were batting at 87 for one, with Mohammad Mithun and Soumya Sarkar were batting 42 and 33 respectively.  READ: Asia Cup: Junior Tigers to leave Dhaka this evening In the first innings of the match, East Zone posted 245 with Shahadat Hossain Dipu scoring 72, and Central Zone pacer Abu Hider Rony bagged five wickets. In reply, Central Zone posted 227 with Taibur Rahman hitting 76 and Zakir Hasan scoring 92.  East Zone posted 180 in their second innings with wicketkeeper-batter Pritom Kumar and Nayeem Hasan scoring a fifty each, and Central Zone bowlers— Hasan Murad bagged four wickets, and Rony, and Mrittunjoy Chowdhury taking two wickets each.  In the final innings of the match, Central Zone needs to score 199 to seal the match. They have won their first-round match as well. READ: Tigers out for preparation in New Zealand The other match of the second round of BCL, being played between BCB North Zone and BCB South Zone, is heading for a draw.  Riding on the century of Naeem Islam, BCB North Zone had scored 385 in the first innings of the match. In reply, at the end of day three, BCB South Zone scored 350 for three with Amite Hasan (131) and Towhid Hridoy (159*) hitting a century each.

BCB South Zone have an uphill task to score 348 runs on the last day on Monday with six wickets in hand to post a win against Walton Central Zone in the 3rd round match of Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) at the academy ground of Sheikh Kamal International Stadium in Cox’s Bazar.