DHAKA -Nasir Hossain did everything as he could do to make his comeback match a memorable one, putting his personal issues behind him.
He came up with sterling performance with both batting and bowling on day three of the first round game of the Bangabandhu 22nd National Cricket League (NCL) to keep his side Rangpur Division in contest against Dhaka Division in Tier-1 game at BKSP-3 ground.
Resuming the day on 93, he brought up his century and gave Rangpur a nice platform. Riding on his 115 off 252, that included 11 fours and four sixes, Rangpur was shot out for 230 in their innings, in reply of Dhaka’s 365.
Rangpur may concede 135-run lead, which was bigger enough but Nasir again came up strongly with bowling to rescue the side. He grabbed 4-21 with his wily off-spin to bowl out Dhaka for just 128 runs, giving Rangpur a moderate target of 264-run to win.
Alongside Nasir, Sohrawardi Shuvo and Mahmudul Hasan also dazzled with three and two wickets respectively.
As Nasir was on song with bowling too, Dhaka batsmen found it tough to replicate the performance of first innings. Arafat Sunny Junior was the highest scorer for Dhaka with 40 not out. Rony Talukdar made 21 while Shuvagata Hom scored 19. Saif who hit a century in the first innings, scored just 2 this time.
Before the bails were drawn, Rangpur reached 35-2 with Sohrawardi Shuvo (12) and Mahmudul Hasan (4) in the crease. Rangpur still needs 229 runs to win the game.BSS
