Hashan Tilkaratne sparked off in BNS

All-round performance from Sri Lankan star Hashan Tilkaratne earned his club Mohammedan Sporting full points in GrameenPhone premier League today held in BNS ground. The left-hander scored a stormy hundred and took three wickets to be rightly adjudged for the man-of-the-match while his team clinched the cliffhanger by 22 runs.

It was an auspicious start for Surja Tarun club as they hauled out an early collapse from their imposing opponents. Shafaq-Al-Jabir, the left-arm fast medium pacer, used the early movements of the pitch and removed 3 vital batsmen from the Mohammedan frontline within a very short time after his skipper Hannan Sarkar won the toss and elected to field first.

Mohammedan lost their 4th wicket with the score on 42 and it was then Tilkaratne came on to the crease. He and Ehsanul Haq, the man in form, started the task of repairing and to do this they remained inseparable for more than two hours to amass 196 runs from the partnership. Hasan Tilkaratne notched up 109 that came off 105 balls arranged with 9 sparking boundaries. Ehsanul Haq reflected his usual batting style to make 94 off 154 balls. Minhajul Abedin sighed with relief to see his team ended up with 276 for 6 on the board at lunch.

Chasing 277 from 50 overs, Surja Tarun stumbled when they lost the wickets of Gazi Salahuddin (15) and Mohammed Ashraful (0) pretty early. Busta Cup hero Mazharul Haq and skipper Hannan Sarkar were then forced into a period of consolidation. While Hannan was batting rather slowly, his partner Mazharul was absolutely pitiless over the Mohammedan bowlers. The chubby batsman slammed 8 fours and 4 massive sixes as he made 84 off just 65 deliveries.

Mohammed Rafique brought the rare moments of cheer by removing both Hannan (59) and Mazharul and with their departure Surja Tarun's chances fell away. They started loosing wickets in brief interval when Tilkaratne was brought on. He put a good show with his off-spin and removed 3 batsmen giving away only 44 runs in his 10-over spell.