Shamsur keeps up MSC streak

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Mohammedan clinched a last-ball thriller against perennial rivals Abahani in a high-scoring encounter yesterday and maintained their winning run in the Dhaka Premier League with a 3-wicket victory at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
There was no shortage of excitement all through the match and a sparse crowd had to wait till the last ball to know the outcome of the prestigious battle between the country’s most popular outfits.
Shamsur Rahman hit a match-winning unbeaten hundred to cancel out young Mosaddek Hossain’s yet another brilliant knock while Mohammedan skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bowled with a lot of heart on way to claiming four wickets, but the match reached its real climax in the last over and Mukter Ali brought the sigh of relief in the Motijheel outfit tent, who so far won all three matches compared to Abahani’s only one victory.
The brilliant effort from Shamsur saw Mohammedan require five runs from the last six deliveries off pacer Alauddin Babu to chase down Abahani’s 282 runs, but Mukter mounted the tension among the supporters playing out two dot balls. He however dashed Abahani’s hopes by hitting the next delivery for a boundary through point, thanks to substitute fielder Al Amin who missed a difficult chance. But there was no end to the excitement after the next two were dot balls and the match was on. Mukter kept his cool as he gently pushed the ball into the off-side for the winning single, but everybody was surprised to see Abahani spread their fielding while they needed to save a single from the last ball.
“I must say luck favoured us in the match. We should have finished the game earlier, but unfortunately we took the match to the last ball. It was not easy to chase down such a big total in a high-voltage match but the wicket became flat in the second session,” said player-of-the-match Shamsur, who slammed an unbeaten 105 from 115 balls with the help of eight fours and two sixes.
Mohammedan’s chase was not impressive as they lost two early wickets for 42 and many wrote them off after dashing Sri Lankan batsman Tilakaratne Dilshan (51), who was dropped by Nazimuddin at short mid-on while he was on eight, walked to the pavilion with the scoreboard reading 76-3. But Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi (47) and Mashrafe (18) provided brilliant support to Shamsur to script the brilliant victory. Spinner Nabil Samad raised Abahani’s hopes again by removing both Nabi and Mashrafe, but it was a day for Shamsur, who was looking forward to a national call for the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
“Without any doubt it’s one of my best innings and the most satisfying fact is that I could finish off the game. I had talked with my coach senior players about my failure of not converting the fifties to big ones. Now this innings in a big match will give me the confidence,” said Shamsur, who survived once when on 89.
The first session however belonged to young Mosaddek, who followed his hundred by playing a magnificent 76-run knock. The young right-hander’s clean hitting and good footwork impressed many. Mosaddek smashed four sixes and three boundaries. Three Sri Lankans — Tharanga Paranavitana (61), Indika de Saram (33) and Talina Kandambi (49) — made notable contribution as Abahani recovered from 32 for 2 to put up a fighting total on the board.
“It’s just bad luck. Yes, if I could stay till the last ball then we might have scored 30 more runs. Still we had a good total on the board but luck didn’t favour us. My personal aim is to continue my good form and score as much runs as possible,” said Mosaddek.

SCORES IN BRIEF
ABAHANI: 282 all out in 49.5 overs (Nafees 19, Paranavitana 61, Saram 33, Mosaddek 76, Kandambi 49, extras 13; Mashrafe 4-40, Muktar 3-46, Nabi 2-40)
MOHAMMEDAN: 283-7 in 50 overs (Dilshan 51, Shamsur 105 not out, Rajin 21, Nabi 47, Mashrafe 18, Muktar 16 not out, extras 8; Al Amin 2-51, Nabil 3-54)
Result: Mohammedan won by three wickets.

Source: The Daily Star