Pacers shine in gloomy conditions as Mahmudullah XI bag first win

It was once again a familiar scene in Miprur's home of cricket - the Shere-e-Bangla National cricket stadium - as the pacers dominated proceedings in the first innings of the second one-dayer of the President's Cup. 

After being put on to bat first by Mahmudullah XI, Tamim XI were skittled out for a paltry 103 runs in just 23.1 overs. 

In reply, Mahmudullah's team reached the target with five wickets and 20 overs to spare in a rain-curtailed 47-over match.

Nurul Hasan and Mominul Haque were the only batsmen to get good starts and were the top scorers in the match and for Mahmudullah XI with scores of 41 not-out and 39, respectively.

As far as bowling is concerned, the chief destroyers for Mahmudullah XI were the pace duo of Rubel Hossain and Sumon Khan, who took three wickets each and dismantled the top order. 

The pacers in Tamim's team Mohammad Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman were also good with the ball early on and enjoyed the conditions as they took three top-order wickets between them.

The other pacer, Ebadat Hossain will be ruing his missed opportunity to make hay under gloomy conditions, perfect for seam bowling. 

The conditions did play a key part as the ball swung in the air and seamed off the surface too, to have the Tamim XI batsmen in all sorts of trouble. 

Speaking of conditions, there was sporadic rain form time to time and one passing shower did cause a break in play, which only played into the hands of the team bowling - Mahmudullah XI.

A horror start for Mahmudullah's men

Despite posting such a low total, Tamim XI were on top during the beginning of the second innings as they had Mahmudullah XI reeling at 0/3.

Three top-order wickets - Liton Das, Mohammad Naim and Imrul Kayes - were all out for a duck as Mohammad Saifuddin took the wickets of Liton and Imrul while Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Naim.

Captain Mahmudullah was in next and he formed a partnership with Momunul Haque to the chase back on track. 

Mominul finds his feet

Mahmudullah and Mominul took the score to 39 and looked to finish the job but Taijul Islam had other plans and had Mahmudullah bowled. Taijul, bowling with a renovated action had Mahmudullah bowled for 10 runs.

From there, however, Mominul and Nurul Hasan took the score close to the target.

Mominul was not out on 36 from 52 balls while Nurul was batting at 16 from 17 balls. The diminutive left-hander, Mominul finally broke free in the 19th over when he hit Mahadi Hasan for three boundaries.

Nurul finishes the job

Mominul looked good for a 50+ score but he too got out, dismissed by Taijul with the team score at 77.

Nurul however, kept steady and started to play his shots once he was settled. He took the team to victory with a 38-ball innings which had six boundaries and a six. 

It was a rare bit of sensible and quality batting in a match that was littered with poor decisions from the batsmen and really highlighted an area that suffered due to lack of competitive cricket in the last six months.

Tamim and Tamim fail to deliver 

Earlier, the much talked about and hyped opening duo of Tamim and Tamim, however, ended in anti-climatic fashion as the captain and senior partner, Tamim Iqbal was dismissed for just two runs.

The left-hander was trapped in front by a well-directed delivery from Rubel Hossain, who had his first wicket of the day in just his third delivery and Tamim's innings lasted just eight deliveries.

Anamul Haque, another player with a decent amount of international cricketing experience joined the younger Tamim, Tanzid Hasan Tamim. 

They both formed a decent partnership to take the score to 42 and steadied things as Ebadat was the bowler who was being attacked at the other end. 

That forced captain Mahmudullah to bring a change in bowler on came Sumon Khan and that paid dividends as he bowled brilliantly. 

Rubel and Sumon wreak havoc

But it was Rubel, who struck twice in the eighth over. First, had the wicket of Tamim, who was caught by Ebadat, and then a few deliveries later, he dismissed Mohammad Mithun, who was caught by Mominul Haque.

Tamim scored 27 from 18 deliveries while Mithun was gone for a duck, lasting just two deliveries.

Under-19 World Cup-winning middle-order batsman Shahadat Hossain was the next player to be dismissed by Sumon Khan as he was caught behind by the wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan after scoring just one run from nine balls. 

The procession of wickets falling continued as next player to be dismissed was Mosaddek Hossain and he was dismissed by Sumon Khan who now had his second wicket. Mosaddek, who has been having a poor time with the bat was gone for just five runs from six deliveries. 

Things went from bad to worse for Tamim XI as Anamul too was out next with the score at 68-6 and Sumon had his third scalp of the day.

Spinners wrap up the tail

From there, Mohammad Saifuddin and Mahadi Hasan tried to form a partnership and took the team score to 89.

But once again, that partnership did not last long as leg-spinner Aminul Islam came on to bowl and took the wicket of Mahadi Hasan as he was gone after scoring 19 runs from 23 balls.

Saifuddin held his end up but wickets fell at the other end as Taijul Islam (1) and Shoriful Islam (4) were dismissed cheaply.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz took the wickets of Taijul while Aminul had his second wicket with the dismissal of Shoriful. Saifuddin was the last man dismissed and he was gone for 12, bowled by Miraz, after lasting 31 deliveries.