Leader Abahani suffer 2nd defeat in Premier Cricket

Abahani Ltd suffered the 2nd defeat in the 12-team Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League as Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club got a three-run victory in the 9th round game at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday, reports UNB.

Despite the day's loss, Abahani maintained the top spot in the league table with 14 points from nine encounters while moving up to the 2nd slot from 4th place Doleshwar are still far behind the leader in comparison of points venture as they have 11 points from nine outings.

Abahani recorded seven wins against two losses while Doleshwar secured five wins against one tie and three losses.

Batting first after winning the toss in the day's match, Doleshwar scored 232 for 9 in 50 overs and restricted the league leader Abahani to 229 for all in 49.5 overs.

Abahani needed 10 runs in the last over for the victory, but Ariful Islam Sobuj, who was caught behind by Abu Sayeem, managed six runs with a boundary before Arafat Sunny strangulated Abahani's last breath in the 5th ball of the innings last over.

Fazle Mahmud (68 off 119b; 7x4) and Farhad Hossain (63 off 80b; 2x4) were the big hitters with half centuries for the winners. Skipper Farhad Reza added 28 runs and with ball he captured three wickets for 42 runs to be adjudged man of the match.

Manan Sharma got four wickets for 44 runs while Ariful Islam Sobuj (2/29) and national ODI side captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (2/47) equally shared four wickets for Abahani.

Wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Mithun (60 off 61b; 4x4; 1x6) and skipper Nasir Hossain (53 off 79b; 6x4) hammered a half century each for Abahani while opener Anamul Haque (34 off 57b; 1x4; 1x6) and Ariful Islam Sobuj (21 off 15b; 1x4; 2x6) were other notable scorers for the side.

Apart from Farhad Reza's three-four, Arafat Sunny (3/51), Sharifullah (2/36) and Zohaib Khan (1/42) were the other wicket takers for the winners.