Najmul XI and Mahmudullah XI will be facing off today in the final of the BCB President’s Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The fixture was originally scheduled for Friday but the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had to reschedule it to today taking into consideration the weather forecast for the past 72 hours.
The intention to stage the three-team fifty-over tournament was to help cricketers return to the groove after a gap of over seven months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The BCB announced some monetary incentives to help increase the competitiveness of the intra-squad tournament. The champion team will receive Tk 15 lac while the runner-up team will get Tk 7.5 lac. Apart from that, the man-of-the-series will get Tk 2 lac and the best batsman, bowler and fielder of the series are to receive Tk 1 lac each. Unfortunately the competitiveness has yet not been reflected on the field. While it was expected of the players coming from a long hiatus to be a bit rusty, they seemed to have carried the rust till the final.
Batsmen have disappointed the most. The only hundred of the tournament came from Najmul XI’s Mushfiqur Rahim, courtesy of which Najmul XI posted the tournament-high 264 for 8 against Mahmudullah XI and won the game by a huge margin of 131 runs in the group stage. Najmul XI went on to win their second group game against Mahmudullah XI by four wickets. Mushfiqur remained outstanding among the batsmen. The 33-year-old scored two fifties and a hundred in four games to see himself top on the highest run-getters’ list. Mushfiqur however, suffered a shoulder injury in the previous game but still is expected to play today.
Young Afif Hossain, Towhid Hridoy and Irfan Shukkur have also shown promise with the bat in the middle order while players like Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar in the top order have failed to make a mark. Najmul XI bowlers however did a good job as the likes of Taskin Ahmed, Al Amin Hossain, Abu Jayed, Nasum Ahmed and leg-spinner Rishad Hossain impressed throughout the tournament.
Imrul Kayes, except for his one forty-odd innings in the group stage, has been inconsistent otherwise. It was skipper Mahmudullah and wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan who played a few vital knocks for the side on their way to the final.
In terms of bowling, pacer Rubel Hossain has been in superb form and is among the top wicket-takers with ten scalps. Another pacer Ebadot Hossain and young left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan also impressed.
