Dhaka Division stunned defending champions Rangpur Division by beating them by 23 runs in the opening round of this season's National Cricket League. In a low-scoring tier-1 game at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Anamul Haque's four-wicket haul on the third afternoon tilted the game Dhaka's way, as they bowl Rangpur out for 128 runs in their chase of 152.
Dhaka managed only 166 in the first innings after being sent in by Rangpur, even as Rony Talukdar hit an unbeaten 102, his 11th first-class century. Apart from Talukdar, only two other Dhaka batters reached double figures. For Rangpur, Nobin Islam picked up his maiden five-wicket haul.
In reply, Rangpur scored 238 and took a 72-run lead. Wicketkeeper-batter Mim Mosaddeak top scored with 71, while captain Ariful Haque scored an unbeaten 58. Left-arm quick Salauddin Sakil took four wickets for Dhaka.
In their second innings, Taibur Rahman's 66 kept Dhaka in the game, but Asadullah Galib's 5 for 68 for Rangpur restricted Dhaka's lead to 151, which wasn't too threatening with so much time remaining.
However, Rangpur slipped to 44 for 7 in the chase, before Nihaduzzaman's fighting 56 from No. 8 kept them afloat. He added 75 for the eighth wicket with Sanjit Saha, before Sakil removed Nihaduzzaman and Galib in the space of three deliveries. Rangpur were shortly bowled out for 128.
Naeem Islam marked his Dhaka Metropolis debut by reaching his 10,000th first-class run in the course of an 88-run win against Sylhet Division. Naeem moved to Metropolis after having played more than 150 matches for his northern native sides Rangpur and Rajshahi.
He top-scored with 65 in the first innings after Sylhet opted to bowl, but Metropolis were bowled out for 243. Abu Jayed, Khaled Ahmed, Sahanur Rahman and Nabil Samad took two wickets each for Sylhet, and then their captain Zakir Hasan's 15th first-class century gave them an eight-run lead. Left-arm seamer Abu Hider took three wickets for Metropolis.
Metropolis managed only 212 while batting again, with medium-pace bowler Rejaur Rahman Raja taking a hat-trick to wrap up the innings. Raja became the second bowler from Sylhet to take a first-class hat-trick, following Enamul Haque Jr in the 2018-19 season.
But it was all upended by left-arm spinner Arif Ahmed, whose five-wicket haul cleaned up Sylhet for 116 during their chase of 205. Hider took three more wickets to finish as Player of the Match, having also contributed 34 with the bat in the first innings.
Chattogram Division kicked off their NCL tier-2 campaign with an 87-run win over Barisal Division. Having been sent in by Barishal at their home venue, Chattogram banked on 96 from Pinak Ghosh and 94 from Mominul Haque to reach 238. Offspinner Sohag Gazi took 5 for 54 for Barishal.
Moin Khan's 71 from the lower order kept Barishal ticking, but they ended three short in their reply. Chattogram built on that meagre advantage with fifties from Yasir Ali, Shamim Hossain and Nayeem Hasan and reached 308, leaving Barishal 312 to chase. Seamer Kamrul Islam Rabbi took 5 for 64 for Barisal. But Hasan Murad's four-wicket haul skittled out Barishal for 224 despite Gazi's 97.
In the other tier-2 match, Khulna Division crushed Rajshahi Division by 400 runs at the latter's home ground. Khulna, who had opted to bat, got 288 in the first innings with fifties from Mohammad Mithun and Afif Hossain. But Rajshahi were then blown away for 81, their fourth-lowest first-class total of all time, as Al-Amin Hossain and Soumya Sarkar took four wickets each for Khulna, thus securing a massive 207-run lead.
Khulna chose to bat again rather than enforcing the follow-on, and Mithun struck his 15th first-class century as Khulna declared on 334 for 5. Mithun made an unbeaten 125 off just 149 balls, which included 12 fours and four sixes. Sarkar and Anamul Haque struck fifties, too.
Set a mammoth 542 to win, Rajshahi were then bowled out for 141 to end up with their lowes-ever match aggregate of 222. Al-Amin, Ziaur Rahman and Nahidul Islam took two wickets each for Khulna.