Mohammedan Sporting Club on Saturday endured their fifth defeat in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League against Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club. Mohammedan’s chances of qualifying for the Super League stage of the event is slim now. Mohammedan batted first in Saturday’s match and posted only 143 runs for all wickets in 38.1 over. Mahmudullah Riyad was the best batter for them scoring 48 off 52 balls. Also read: Ashraful’s List A career-best carries Brothers past Rupganj The other batters failed to play well against Enamul Haque Jnr of Rupganj Tigers who bagged five wickets conceding 41 runs in 9.1 overs. It was his maiden five-for in a 20-year-long career. In reply, Rupganj Tigers chased down the target in just 36.2 overs and won the match by seven wickets. It was their fourth win in eight matches. In other matches of the day, City Club beat Brothers Union by three wickets while Legends of Rupganj beat Shinepukur Cricket Club by nine runs. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club are at the top of the table with 14 points from seven wins in eight matches while Prime Bank Cricket Club are right behind them with 12 points from six wins in nine matches. The other teams in the top eight are: Legends of Rupganj (12 points), Abahani Club Limited (10), Gazi Group Cricketers (10), Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club (8), Shinepukur Cricket Club (6), and City Club (6).

Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez signed a contract with Mohammedan Sporting Club to play the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League this season, a source close to Hafeez confirmed UNB. Mohammedan officials have earlier said that Hafeez would play for them this season, but it was only finalised on March 12. Also read: Mash skips eighth surgery on leg to take part in Dhaka League The Pakistan allrounder is expected to arrive in Dhaka by March 15. According to the source, Hafeez will play the whole season of the Dhaka League. Hafeez played 392 international matches for Pakistan and scored more than 10,000 runs along with taking more than 250 wickets. He also played 800 competitive matches at the domestic level. Mohammedan has formed a strong team this year including the national players— Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim and Taskin Ahmed. It is expected that Shakib would lead Mohammedan this year. Also read: Shakib Al Hasan in for South Africa tour

Right-handed batsman Irfan Sukkur smashed an unbeaten 68 off 48 balls to guide Mohammedan Sporting Club to their fifth win in Bangabandhu DPL Twenty20 Cricket League against Old DOHS Sports Club on Sunday. Mohammedan lifted the rain-hit match by nine runs under DL Method at BKSP. It was their fifth win in eight encounters. It was Mohammedan’s first game in this season without skipper Shakib Al Hasan who was banned for three matches by BCB for breaching Code of Conduct during another rain-affected match against Abahani on Friday. DOHS won the toss and opted to bowl first. Mohammedan posted a challenging total of 154 for five in 20 overs thanks to wicket-keeper batsman Irfan hitting 68 with three fours and five sixes.  Abdul Mazid contributed  29.  For DOHS, Rakibul Hasan took two wickets conceding 30 runs while Aliss Al Islam, Hamidul Islam and Asaduzzaman Payel bagged one wicket each.  Set a target of 155 runs to win DOHS could manage 115 for four in 16 overs before the rain struck. And due to the persistent rain and wet outfield, the match could not be resumed. And thus, Mohammedan won by 5 runs under the DL Method.  In the other games on Sunday morning, Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club beat Partex Sporting Club by five wickets riding on 71 off 57 by Fazle Mahmud. Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club beat Legends of Rupganj by seven runs under the DL Method, with Shykat Ali and Nurul Hasan scored 43 and 44 not out respectively.   

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has handed a three-match ban and a fine of Tk 5 lakh to Shakib Al Hasan due to his outburst during the game between Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club on Friday. While announcing his punishment on Saturday evening, BCB staged an unprecedented drama with the journalists cover sports in Bangladesh. At 6:15 pm, the media department of BCB sent a message through WhatsApp saying a press conference of Kazi Inam Ahmed, the chairman of the cricket committee of Dhaka metropolis, to take place at 7:30 pm at Meena Bazar, Dhanmondi. Another message popped up at 6:52 pm from the same sender saying the press conference has been cancelled, and it also said: “Any inconvenience is regretted.” Also read: Shakib banned for three matches, fined Tk 5 lakh After a few minutes, a press conference took place at the garage of the residence of the  BCB president Nazmul Hasan in Gulshan, which is at least 8.5 km away from the venue of the press conference that didn’t take place in Dhanmondi. During the 37 minutes between the two messages from BCB’s media department, many journalists left for Dhanmondi from different parts of Dhaka, and they only ended up knowing that the press conference is already taking place in Gulshan in spite of no announcement of that press conference from BCB. Earlier, Shakib kicked the stumps when an lbw appeal from him turned down by the umpire during the seventh round game of the Dhaka league on Friday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Also read: Shakib apologises after thrashing and kicking stumps Shakib was not done doing that. He came to the scene again and uprooted a set of stumps that he then threw down again. This time he was upset at the umpires for asking the players to come off the field due to rain. While returning to the dressing room after the rain came in to interrupt the game, Shakib had a heated exchange with Khaled Mahmud who is a member of the coaching staff of Abahani. For all these, Shakib issued a public apology on his social media page. He wrote: “Dear fans and followers, I am extremely sorry for losing my temper and ruining the match for everyone and especially those who are watching from home. An experienced player like me should not have reacted that way but sometimes against all odds it happens, unfortunately. I apologise to the teams, management, tournament officials and organizing committee for this human error. Hopefully, I won't be repeating this again in the future.”

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.  

Mohammedan Sporting Club suffered their third defeat in the ongoing Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League on Thursday against Legends of Rupganj by nine wickets at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  Before this game, Mohammedan lost to Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club by 22 and 16 runs respectively.  On Thursday, Mohammedan won the toss and opted to bat first, but their batsmen failed to impress with the bat as they tumbled for 113 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs.  Shuvagata Hom was the highest runs getter scoring 52 off 32 balls with five sixes and one four while Abu Hider and Parvez Hossain Emon were the only two other batsmen to have reached double-digit scores of 15 and 10 respectively. For Rupganj, Sohag Gazi was the best bowler who bowled four overs and conceded only eight runs to take two wickets. Gazi failed to grab any wicket in the last five matches. Along with him, Mohammad Shahid, Naim Islam and Qazi Onik also bagged two wickets each.  In reply, Rupganj chased down the target in 18.1 overs riding on the fifty of Pinak Ghosh, 51 off 51 with five fours and one six, who was playing only his second T20. Mehedi Maruf also played well scoring 41 off 46 balls.  Mohammedan captain Shakib Al Hasan suffered a duck in this game, which his second in the season. The southpaw having a real bad patch in this league with the bat.  In the other games of the day, Prime Bank Cricket Club beat Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club by only three runs, while Gazi Group Cricketers beat Old DOHS Sports Club by six wickets. Mohammad Mithun won the player of the match award for his second fifty of the season for Prime Bank while Mahmudul Hasan Joy also won the award for his 55-ball 85 for Old DOHS, however, his team ended up losing the game. 

Despite breaching the bio-secure bubble during the ongoing Bangbandhu Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League, Shakib Al Hasan and his team Mohammedan Sporting Club got away from any punishment that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had earlier announced. Kazi Inam Ahmed, the chairman of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM), said that they will issue a notice to Shakib and Mohammedan asking them to obey the rules of the bio-secure bubble during the remaining part of the league. Read:Mahmudullah, Rubel, Nurul Spark in DPL T20 2021 “We have held a hearing on June 8 about the recent breach of the bio-secure bubble of the Dhaka League. The incident had taken place during a practice session of Mohammedan,” Kazi Inam told in a video message sent to the media by BCB.  Along with the CCDM chairman, the technical director of the league, Jalal Yunus, BCB CEO, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, member secretary of CCDM, Ali Hossain, the top management of Mohammedan and Shakib were among the participants of the hearing which took place virtually.  “Mohammedan accepted that the breach was an unfortunate act by them. They also offered an apology. We are looking forward to hosting the remaining part of the league safely. We have contacted all the clubs, and we are working continuously to keep the bio-secure bubble intact. We will issue a notice to Mohammedan to ensure that such an incident doesn’t take place again. And at the same time, we hope the tournament will go ahead successfully,” Kazi Inam added.  The incident took place on June 4 ahead of Mohammedan’s third game of the league against Prime Bank Cricket Club on June 5. Most of the players of Mohammedan were at the academy ground in Mirpur, but Shakib took part in a net session at the outdoor of the indoor practice facilities.  Read:Fifties from Mushfiqur, Mosaddek power Abahani’s win He was accompanied by Mohammedan coaching staff member Mehrab Hossain, team manager Sazzad Ahmed and at least four net bowlers. There were two bowlers who are parts of the Mohammedan squad, and two were invited by Nasir Hossain, who works as a team boy at the national team. Neither Nasir nor the other two net-bowlers are part of the bio-secure bubble.  On June 5, BCB announced that they would investigate a potential breach of the bio-secure bubble during the Mohammedan’s practice session. They, however, didn’t clear the incident at that time.  Ahead of the league hits the ground, Ali Hossain, had said that any breach of the bio-secure bubble will result in heavy punishment. While talking to the media on May 27, he sai, “We will observe the bio-secure bubble closely. If any breach comes up, we will take the action accordingly. It might see cut off the points of the clubs who would involve in such activities.” Read:Mohammedan suffer second defeat All the players, coaching staff members and club officials, who are participants in Dhaka League, are being accommodated in some luxurious hotels in the capital aiming to keep them safe from exposing to the deadly coronavirus. BCB is spending more than Tk 5 crores to establish this bio-secure bubble, as BCB officials earlier stated.  Due to the Covid-19 situation, the last season of the Dhaka League was suspended. So the board came to host this season of the league maintaining a strict bio-secure bubble.   

Mohammedan Sporting Club, who had a flying start to the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premeir Division Twenty20 Cricket League, suffered their second defeat on Tuesday at BKSP.  In the rain-hit game, which was reduced to 6 overs-a-side, Mohammedan lost by 22 runs to Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club.  Read:Mushfiqur opts out of Zimbabwe T20Is Shakib Al Hasan-led Mohammedan won the toss and opted to bat first. Primed Doleshwar posted 78 runs for four wickets in six overs riding on 14-ball 41 by Imran Uzzaman and 16-ball 29 by Shamim Hossain.  For Mohammedan, Abu Jayed bagged two wickets while Shakib and Ruyel Mia took one wicket each.  In reply, Mohammedan managed only 56 runs losing four wickets in six overs and lost the game by 22 runs. For Prime Doleshwar, Shafiqul Islam bagged three wickets.  Read:Sheikh Jamal end Mohammedan’s winning run It was Mohammedan’s second defeat in five matches, while it was the fourth win of Prime Doleshwar in as many matches.  On the same day, Legends of Rupganj beat Shinepukur Cricket Club by 14 runs, and Old DOHS beat Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity by 16 runs.   

Coming into the fourth round of the ongoing Banglabandhu Dhaka Premier Division Twenty20 Cricket League, Mohammedan Sporting Club suffered their first defeat at the hands of Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club on Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.  It was Nurul Hasan Sohan, the wicketkeeper-batsman, whose previous highest score this season was just 22, who came up with a whirlwind 66 off 34 deliveries with four fours and five sixes and helped his team to post a challenging total of 161 runs for five in 20 overs.  Read: Dhaka League T20: Khelaghar shock Abahani Mohammedan failed to chase down the target of 162 despite a 43-ball 57 by Nadif Chowdhury. Ebadat Hossain and Enamul Haque bagged three early wickets to destroy their top-order, and Mohammedan failed to recover from that early damage.  Sheikh Jamal won the toss and batted in an unexpected way to score only 85 runs for five in 15 0vers. But in the last five overs, they added 76 runs without losing any more wickets, thanks to some big hittings from Nurul and Ziaur Rahman who ended up on 35 off 17 balls with one four and three sixes.  Shakib Al Hasan and Abu Hider took two wickets each. Abu Hider conceded 53 runs in four overs.  Read: Taskin, Abu Jayed overshadow Mustafizur’s five-for In reply, Mohammedan slumped to 15/4, and at the very early stage of the game, they lost the race. Pavez Hossain Emon, who hit a fifty in the previous game, suffered a duck this time around. Along with him, Irfan Sukkur, who also had hit a fifty in the second game of the season, suffered second consecutive duck, and in between them, Shakib only posted two runs.    Mohammedan’s last ray of hope was the bats of Shamsur Rahman and Nadif Chowdhey, who came up with a 48-run stand in the fifth wicket partnership. But they eventually ended up on 145 for eight in 20 overs and lost the game by 16 runs.    For Sheikh Jamal, Enamul bagged three wickets while Ziaur took two.    In the other two games of the day, Gazi Group Cricketers beat Legends of Rupganj by seven wickets and Prime Bank Cricket Club beat Partex Sporting Club by 72 runs at BKSP.    Soumya Sarkar hit 53 off 43 balls with four fours and two sixes for Gazi while Mohammad Mithun was the best batsman for Prime Bank scoring 57 off 36 deliveries with three fours and as many as sixes. For Prime Bank, Rubel Hossain bagged four wickets conceding 30 runs in four overs. It was his first game in the season.

Mohammedan Sporting Club registered their second win in the Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier Division T20 Cricket League Thursday against Partex Sporting Club at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Partex batted first after winning the toss and posted a challenging total of 157 runs for five wickets in 20 overs. Abbas Musa, who played only his second T20, hit 64 off 44 balls with five fours and as many sixes, and captain Tasamul Haque also hit a fifty. For Mohammedan, Taskin Ahmed bagged two wickets while Shakib Al Hasan and Abu Jayed took one wicket each. In reply, Irfan Sukkur hit an unbeaten 52 off 29 balls with five fours and two sixes and Nadif Chowdhury also remained not out for 27. The batters guided their team to a six-wicket victory with 14 balls to play. Mahmudul Hasan and Shamsur Rahman also did well with the bat scoring 38 and 19. However, Mohammedan captain Shakib was dismissed for a golden duck. Mohammedan will take on Prime Bank Cricket Club in their next game at the same venue on June 5, while Partex will take on Old DOHS Sports Club on the same day.