After a long seven-month hiatus in country’s cricket due to coronavirus pandemic, competitive cricket finally returned to Bangladesh with BCB President’s Cup. Mahmudullah Riyad scored a half-century to help Mahmudullah XI to 196 all out against Nazmul XI in the opening match of the BCB President's Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday.
Ahead of the match, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of cricket personalities who passed away in recent months and fatal victims of Covid-19 in the country.
Mahmudullah scored 51 runs, with Imrul Kayes being second-highest scorer for the team with 40 runs. Sabbir Rahman added 22.
Taskin Ahmed, Al Amin Hossain and Mukidul Islam scalped two wickets each for the team led by Nazmul XI.
After winning the toss, Nazmul XI elected to bowl first. Liton Das and Nayeem Sheikh opened the batting for Mahmudullah XI. Taskin Ahmed and Al Amin Hossain of Nazmul XI, operated with the new ball.
Mahmudullah XI batsmen Liton Das (R) and Nayeem Sheikh run between the wickets during the first BCB President’s Cup match against Nazmul XI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday. Photo: BP
Mahmudullah XI started poorly. They lost three wickets for 21 runs, with Liton and Nayeem falling cheaply before Mominul Haque returing for a duck. Most of their batsmen failed to build any kind of alliance and they were losing wickets at regular intervals.
Then skipper, Mahmudullah Riyad and Imrul Kayes took over the repair job. Mahmudullah was batting on 19 while Imrul was on 29 as the batting team reached 80 runs for three wickets in 15 overs. Imrul was then dismissed during the 19th over, leaving his team’s total at 94/4 after 19.5 overs.
After that Nurul Hasan Sohan (14) was run out as team’s total reached 126 runs. However, skipper Mahmudullah was the lone fighter for his team. He was the one who tried to build some resistance as wickets were tumbling at other end. He picked up the first fifty of the series and scored 51 off 82 balls, with 3 fours and 1 maximum, before being bowled out by Mukidul Islam. Later, Sabbir Rahman, who scored 22 runs, also became a victim of Mukidul. Mahmudullah XI was then all out for 196 runs in 47.3 overs. The three-team 50-over tournament in which another team is Tamim Iqbal XI is a part of the continuing initiatives of the BCB aimed at a gradual resumption of normal cricketing activities which have been disrupted since March this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.