Abahani another step closer to defending title

Abahani Limited landed an important blow in their title defense after they crushed Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club by seven wickets. With Gazi Group Cricketers' match against Prime Bank Cricket Club halted due to rain, Abahani are now the tournament's sole leaders with just two matches left.

At the BKSP-3 ground in Savar, Doleshwar were restricted to 189-9 in 50 overs with seamer Abu Jayed picking up three wickets while Mohammad Saifuddin and Manan Sharma collected two wickets each. Marshall Ayub top scored for Doleshwar, making 57 off 83 balls but with just a single boundary. In fact there were only six fours and two sixes in the whole innings.

Later, Saif Hassan and Shadman Islam added 132 runs for the second wicket to steer Abahani's chase. Saif made 80 off 97 balls with nine fours and two sixes while Shadman struck four boundaries and a six in his 78-ball 65.

Mohammedan Sporting Club outplayed Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club to complete a five-wicket win at the BKSP-4 ground in Savar.

Batting first, Dhanmondi Club were cleaned up in 45 overs for 197, courtesy regular dismissals from Taijul Islam, Subashis Roy and Sajedul Islam. Dhanmondi's only notable contributor was Ziaur Rahman who slammed his third List-A century, that included nine sixes and six fours. He however found little support from the other batsmen except Elias Sunny with whom Ziaur added 77 runs for the sixth wicket. Ziaur finally fell in the 39th over, having made 103 off 85 balls.

Mohammedan then got off to a superb start when their openers Shamsur Rahman and Shykat Ali added 86 runs in just 13 overs. They lost four further wickets but completed the chase in 30.2 overs with Bipul Sharma slamming four sixes and two fours in his 19-ball 38.

Meanwhile, the match between Gazi Group Cricketers and Prime Bank Cricket Club has now been shifted to Tuesday after rain spoilt the originally scheduled match day at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium. The rain was due to the effects of Cyclone Mora that has developed over Bay of Bengal.