DHAKA, Sept 10: Rubel Hossain and Nafees Iqbal ignited the opening day of the Walton Dhaka Premier Division cricket League albeit the latter’

s scintillating 150 went in vain. Paceman Rubel Hossain’s six-wicket haul guided favourites Gazi Tank Cricketers script a facile eight-wicket victory over Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity at Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra on Tuesday.

Nafees Iqbal on the other hand though played an unbeaten 150-run knock with cramped leg, failed to secure victory for Brothers Union as runners-up Prime Bank snatched a 79-run win at Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi. 

The match between Victoria Sporting Club and Kalabagan Cricket Academy was pushed to Wednesday (reserve day) as the persistent drizzle forced to call off the match on Tuesday at BKSP. 

Gazi Tank  vs Khelaghar 
Dhaka League was not that much used to see a paceman rule the rooster since the wicket hardly favoured them. There were no big names in Khelaghar which went in favour of Rubel indeed. His six for 18 determined the course of the game as Khelaghar, opted to bat first, were skittled out for just 133 in 39.4 overs.

Rubel scythed down the top order reducing them 17 for four before Shuvagoto Hom and skipper Faisal Hossain Decense shared 76-run which paved the way for them to propel past 100. 
Hom was the highest scorer with 53 while Decense contributed 31. 

Gazi Tank faced hiccups losing the opener Roquibul Hasan with the scoreboard reading 16 but thereafter it was a cake-walk for them. Imrul Kayes and Aftab Ahmed,

the man who lost in the lane of memory, put up a 67-run partnership which was broken by the dismissal of Kayes (30). Gazi’s New Zealand recruit Scott Styris and Aftab then completed the comprehensive victory in just 24.2 overs. Aftab 59 off 79 with seven fours and three sixes while Styris remained unbeaten on run-a-ball 30. 

Prime Bank vs Brothers  
Two centuries marked the high-scoring match but it was Nafees Iqbal who hogged the headline in spite of his side’s big defeat to Prime Bank.

Nafees indeed carried his last year’s Bangladesh Cricket League’s form to indicate he has been in right track. While the big knock eluded him in the BCL, he compensated it brilliantly at the very beginning of the Dhaka League. 

Prime Bank amassed a gigantic 334 for nine in the stipulated 50 overs with Sri Lanka recruit Bandara Rajapakse hammering 97 ball-107 smashing nine fours and six sixes.

He put up 165-run along with makeshift opener Ziaur Rahman after Prime lost their first wicket in the fourth ball of the innings. Ziaur smacked 89 off 69 with six fours and seven sixes.

Bandara was also aided by Mahmudul Hasan Limon who scored 54. The trio’s effort however gave them the big score. 

An extra effort was needed from national star Tamim Iqbal but the swashbuckling opener fell for just 31 off 21 that made the Brothers plan in disarray.

However his elder brother Nafees Iqbal refused to give in but did not get any proper support from the other end which mattered most in the case of big chase.

The next highest score was Tamim’s 31 which indicted how forlorn was the other batsmen. Nafees’s innings progress was hampered by the hamstring injury after he reached to 110.

He continued through the pain but as the team was on the verge of the defeat with the last wicket pair batting, the team coach asked Nafees to retire. By then he struck 21 fours and a six on his 140 ball-150 that reminded the Nafees of his old.

News:The Independent/11-Sep-2013