Litton, Naeem tons crush Rajshahi

Khulna Division have overtaken Dhaka Division in the NCL points table after they gained more points in their drawn game in Fatullah.

Khulna are now on 83 points while Dhaka, the defending champions and league leaders since the start of this tournament, are two points behind.

Batting first, Dhaka were bowled out for 366 following Shuvagata Hom's 135 and fifties from Abdul Mazid and Mosharraf Hossain. Left-arm pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman took four wickets while Ziaur Rahman picked up two.

Khulna replied in a grand manner, declaring on 600 for 9 on the fourth day. Tushar Imran made 158, Mohammad Mithun 126 and Ziaur 110. Tushar and Mithun added 222 for the fourth wicket while Mehedy Hasan and Ziaur added 151 for the seventh. Mahedi Hasan and Mehedy Hasan struck fifties too, as Dhaka struggled to bowl on a typically docile Fatullah wicket. So dire was their situation that captain Mohammad Sharif bowled leg-spin for a few overs and even picked up Mithun's wicket.

There was enough time for Mazid to hit a hundred in Dhaka's second innings which ended on 216 for 2 in 45 overs.

Rangpur Division remain in third place after their innings and one-run win over Rajshahi Division at the BKSP-3 stadium.

Batting first, Rajshahi were bowled out for 263 with Sanjit Saha and Tanveer Haider taking three wickets each. Touhid Tareq and Muktar Ali struck fifties and added 133 runs for the sixth wicket.

Litton Das and Naeem Islam then hit hundreds, 173 and 138 not out respectively, as Rangpur piled on the runs. They declared on 527 for 6 in the third afternoon, leaving Rajshahi to get 264 to make Rangpur bat again.

They were, however, once again bowled out for 263 with Mizanur Rahman and Muktar hitting fifties. Left-arm seamer Sajedul Islam took four wickets while Tanveer picked up three more.

Dhaka Metropolis beat Sylhet Division by 135 runs in Mirpur. Dhaka Metropolis also had identical scores in their two innings - 264 each - but that was enough for a resounding win.

Sylhet made 171 and 222 in their replies. Shamsur Rahman's 103 stood out in Dhaka Metro's second innings, in which Nabil Samad took a six-wicket haul. Sylhet needed 358 to win, but were stalled by three wickets from Sharifullah and two each from Mohammad Shahid, Elias Sunny and Marshall Ayub.

Barisal Division's drawn game against Chittagong Division was more about Mosaddek Hossain making 282.

Batting first, Barisal were 95 for 3, and later slipped to 191 for 5 before Mosaddek added 138 for the sixth wicket with Sohag Gazi, 127 for the seventh with Salman Hossain, and 134 for the ninth with Kamrul Islam Rabbi.

Mosaddek's runs came off 309 balls with 37 fours and five boundaries, batting at a 91.26 strike-rate for over seven hours. It affected Barisal's innings run-rate, too, as they batted at 4.51 for 132.1 overs, to declare on 597 for 9.

Chittagong replied with 339 in their first innings, but Barisal asked them to follow on, and they made 324 for 3. Nafees Iqbal got a hundred in the first innings while Tasamul Haque and Irfan Sukkur made 120 and 104 respectively in the second innings.