Brothers beat Kalabagan for first win, Victoria pull off tense chase

Brothers Union have sealed a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Kalabagan Cricket Academy to register their first win of the Dhaka Premier League this season.

Asked to bat first, each of the top six Kalabagan batsmen got good starts at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday.

But only Irfan Sukkur made a handy 42 at the top of the order, while captain Mahmudul Hasan converted his start to a 62-ball 54 that helped his team to a subpar 213-7.

Pacer Mohammad Shahid and offspinner Sanjit Saha claimed two wickets each for Brothers.

In their chase, Brothers were reduced to 72-3 in the 18th over after openers Shahriar Nafees and Nafees Iqbal ran themselves out.

But Tushar Imran (67 not out) and Zimbabwe allrounder Sean Williams (70) fashioned a 125-run partnership to take the game away from Kalabagan.

Although Williams walked back stumped by Bishawnath Halder, Tushar saw his team over the line.

In other encounters of the day, Legends of Rupganj beat Gazi Group Cricketers by three wickets.

Electing to bat first, Gazi Group were off to a solid start thanks to Anamul Haque’s 42.

Shamsur Rahman (69) and Saeed Anwar Junior (70) then paired in a 68-run third-wicket stand to help their team post 255-8 at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah.

Gazi Group bolstered their advantage reducing Rupganj to 11-3 by the fourth over. But Mohammad Mithun (75) and Ashar Zaidi (37) made amends with a 105-ball 91-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Alok Kapali then took out Zaidi but Mithun completed his 12th List A half-century on the way to a 45-run partnership with Asif Ahmed.

Gazi Group landed another blow by taking Mithun out. But Asif dug deep and cracked 54 off 76 deliveries.

He paired with Nahidul Islam (25) and Alauddin Babu (34 off 22 not out) to take the team to victory with six balls remaining.

At BKSP-3, Mushfiqur Rahim saw his century go in vain as Victoria Sporting Club clinched a tense two-wicket win over Mohammedan Sporting Club.

Mushfiq led a recovery stand before a late cameo from Ariful Haque helped Mohammedan to 247-9 after they opted to bat.

Victoria bowlers landed early blows as Mohammedan slipped to 62-4 in the 18th over. Mushfiq (104) then took charge and put 101 on the scoreboard with Faisal (26) but spinner Suhrawardi Shuvo removed the latter for his fourth wicket.

Chaturanga de Silva ended Mushfiq's 108-ball knock before Ariful (42 off 35 balls) and Nazmul Hossain Milon (19 off 11 balls) provided the final flourish.

Victoria lost opener Fazle Mahmud (2) early but Abdul Mazid (55) and Mominul Haque (67) put 114 on the scoreboard take their team to a strong position.

Naeem Islam then took out both the batsmen in quick succession but Al-Amin added 61 with Chaturanga in the fourth wicket to steady the ship.

Chaturanga's dismissal triggered a collapse as Victoria lost five wickets for just 32 runs in the death overs.

But their skipper Nadif Chowdhury (51) held his nerve and added 29 for the ninth wicket with Dolar Mahmud (4 not out) to steer his team with eight balls to spare.