The 21st National Cricket League (NCL), four-day first class tournament of the country, began yesterday with four matches at different venues around the country. However, Day 1 of two of the four matches have been called off due to rain. Other two matches have also been hindered
due to rain.
Earlier, the inaugural or opening ceremony of the NCL took place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, where the tier 2 match between Dhaka Metropolis and Chattogram Division took place. Day 1 of matches between Khulna, Rangpur Division and Barsial, Sylhet Division were called off.
The match between Dhaka Metropolis and Chattogram Division saw the return of Tamim Iqbal in cricket, who was on rest after the Sri Lanka series. However, Tamim couldn’t make his return a memorable one. Winning the toss, Tamim’s team Chattogram Division opted to bat first.
Stalwart Tamim opened the innings with Sadiqur Rahman and the pair were going well. They had 80-run partnership for the first wicket stand. Tamim was also batting resolutely. Then, during 22nd over, Sadiqur was stumped out by Mahmuduallah Riyad after his 69-ball 51. Few overs later, Tamim’s 105-ball 30-run innings ended as Mahmudullah got his second scalp. Tamim was caught and bowled by his fellow national team teammate Mahmudullah Riyad.
Rain hampered that match for several times and it became a stop-start affair. Later, the day was called off and Chattogram finished with the score of 147/3. Chattogram skipper Mominul Haque was the other batsmen apart from Tamim and Sadiqur who got out. Pinak Ghosh and Tasamul Haque will start Day 2, with unbeaten scores of 30 and 17 respectively. For Dhaka Metropolis, Mahmudullah was pick of the bowlers as he scalped all three wickets.
Dhaka Metro all-rounder Mahmudullah Riyad (C) celebrates after taking a wicket against Chattogram Division during Day 1 of the National Cricket League (NCL) match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. Photo: BP
Meanwhile, the other tier 1 match between Dhaka and Rajshahi Division was an eventful one at Fatullah, with Rajshahi finishing Day 1 on the upper hand. Rajshahi opted to field first after winning the toss.
The day ended with Dhaka struggling at 143/7. The match started with a bit of delay because of rain. Dhaka started the innings brightly after scoring 109/2 within 36th over. However, wickets than started to fall in regular intervals for Dhaka.
Apart from Rony Talukder’s 65 and Joyraz Sheik’s 35 no other batsmen had any significant impact. 4 out of 7 batsmen couldn’t cross the single digit in terms of run.
They were not able face the fiery pace bowling of Shafiul Islam and spinner Taijul Islam. Shafiul scalped 4 wickets and Taijul grabbed three.
