The first day of the fifth round of the National Cricket League (NCL) saw the power of the bowlers. Mirpur, Khulna, Rajshahi, Chittagong – the batters have done well in four venues. A total of 50 wickets fell in one day.
The battle of whites is back today in Mirpur with the fifth round match of NCL. The match was nothing special for Khulna batter Imrul Kayes. Because, this is the last match of his red ball cricket career. However, after winning the toss, Imrul's team could not take advantage of the batting. Dhaka's pacer Suman Khan bowled Khulna for 172 runs. Suman took 6 wickets for 50 runs in career best bowling. Salahuddin Shakeel took 2 wickets. Mohammad Mithun scored 69 runs in Khulna's innings. Imrul scored 16 runs. Dhaka lost 3 wickets for 58 runs before the game was called off due to lack of light in the latter part of the day.
Chittagong team played the last two rounds in Cox's Bazar. However, Chittagong is not very relieved even after returning to Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. Chittagong won the toss and bowled out Rajshahi for 112 runs. After excellent bowling, Chittagong saw Sarsheful in batting. Chittagong scored 173 runs for 8 wickets in the first innings on the first day. Left hand pacer Fahad Hossain took 5 wickets for 31 runs in his career best bowling. At the end of the day, Chittagong's lead was only 61 runs. Rajshahi's medium pacer Sabbir Hossain and leg-spinner Wasi Siddiqui took three wickets each.
Barisal's batsmen could not extend the innings despite a great start at the Sheikh Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi. Barisal lost 7 wickets to score 266 runs in the first innings against Rangpur. For Barisal, Iftekhar Hossain Ifti (70), Mohammad Salman Hossain Imon (67) and Tasmul Haque (51) returned to the dressing room with fifties. Abdullah Al Mamun of Rangpur took 2 wickets for 47 runs.
Dhaka Metropolis suffered a batting disaster against Sylhet at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna. Sylhet, who is at the top of the points table, was disorientated by the pace attack and Dhaka Mahanagar all out for 130 runs. Syed Khaled Ahmed took 4 wickets for 19 runs. Rezaur Rahman Raja got 3 wickets. In reply, Sylhet ended the first day's play with a lead of 7 runs by 137 for 2 wickets. One of the hopes of the team, Amit Hasan, the league's highest run-scorer, remained unbeaten on 51 runs.
