Hasan Nawaz led the Chattogram Royals to a thrilling two-wicket win over the Rajshahi Warriors in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League at the Sylhet International Stadium on Friday.
After being put into bat first, Rajshahi were restricted to a below-par total 128-9, thanks to an all-round bowling display led by Aamer Jamal, who took 3-23 from four overs.
Then Nawaz held his nerve and remained unbeaten on 35 off 36 to guide them home in the very last ball as Chattogram retained their top spot.
As many as six batters of Rajshahi touched the double figures, but none could cross the 19-run mark.
The highest partnership of 21 runs came from the opening partnership between Muhammad Waseem and Tanzid Hasan.
Apart from Jamal’s three-for, Shoriful Islam and Tanvir Islam each took two wickets for Chattogram, while Mahedi Hasan and Nawaz took one apiece.
However, Rajshahi had Chattogram at 28-4 inside the first five overs to set a thrilling contest before Nawaz and Mahedi steadied the ship with a run-a-ball partnership of 40.
After Mahedi’s departure, Nawaz added a further 35 runs off 34 with Asif Ali to take Chattogram to a comfortable position.
But Asif’s wicket enticed another collapse into the Chattogram innings as they slipped to 119-8 with 10 runs still needed from eight balls.
After Shoriful conceded two dots in the last two balls of the penultimate over bowled by Tanzim Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto opted to bowl with SM Meherob with 10 runs to defend.
The off-spinner gave away eight runs in the first three balls before shooting two dots to set the probability of another super over.
But Nawaz kept his calm to play it along the ground while Shoriful ran his heart out to scamper through a double. Rajshahi, who were otherwise excellent in the field, missed a couple of run-out chances towards the end.
Chattogram skipper Mahedi hailed Nawaz’s batting, which fulfilled the situation’s demand.
‘We thought that whoever was along, if Hasan Nawaz could be in the middle till the last over, he could have finished the game, as he had [the capability] of power hitting. Because he was setting the whole game nicely,’ said Mahedi after the match.
‘I think I have rarely seen him batting like this, as he normally likes to play strokes. But today’s innings was sensible; it was outstanding,’ he added.
Rajshahi captain Shanto, on the other hand, was still proud of the fight shown by his troops.
‘If you see the involvement of the eleven players in the field, we kept our faith. Because anything can happen in cricket,’ said Shanto.
‘So we have that belief. With the bowling lineup we’ve got, we are capable of defending any total. So we’ve had that belief, and the bowlers executed that well,’ he added.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newagebd.net ’
