Mizan propels Rajshahi to final

Rajshahi opener Mizan acknowledges the cheers after reaching his century against Sylhet in the second semifinal of the 31st Inter District Cricket Championship at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

 

Mizanur Rahman slammed an unbeaten hundred as Rajshahi reached the final of the 31st Inter District Cricket Championship with a comfortable seven-wicket victory against Sylhet in the second semifinal at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday

Rajshahi will play Friday's final against Mymensingh at the same venue.

Sanjamul Islam set the platform for Rajshahi to coast to an easy victory as the left-arm spinner claimed four wickets for 33 runs in a ten over spell to dismiss Sylhet for 196 in 49 overs.

In chase of the paltry target, Rajshahi opener Mizanur Rahman and Asif Naeem foiled any attempt of their opponents to come back into the match as they shared 140 runs in the opening stand before Asif was dismissed for 51 off 72 balls that featured five boundaries.

Mizanur was not out with 105 balls. He smote thirteen boundaries and three sixes during his 113-ball knock while Isharul Islam made unbeaten 24 off 36 balls with the help of five fours as Rajshahi scored 197 for three in 41.2 overs.

Besides Sanjamul, Kamrul Hasan took two wickets conceding 41 runs in ten overs.

Earlier Sylhet won the toss and decided to bat first but the made a disaster start losing two quick wickets with the scoreboard reading four. Golam Mabud joined Toufiq Khan to repair the early damage associating 46 runs in the third wicket stand but again Sylhet lost three more wickets to reach 78 for five.

Ejaz Ahmed and Ayub Ullah added 95 runs in the sixth wicket stand to give Sylhet a respectable total.

Ejaz was the top scorer with a 71-ball 65 that contained three fours and as many sixes while Ayub added 36 off 69 balls with two boundaries.

BRIEF SCORES
SYLHET: 196 all out in 49 overs (Toufiq 38, Mabud 21, Ejaz 65, Ayub 36, Azad 14 not out, extras 17; Shamsul 1-25, Shahriar 1-38, Sanjamul 4-33, Kamrul 2-41, Rezaul 1-27)

RAJSHAHI: 197 for 3 in 41.2 overs (Mizanur 105 not out, Asif 51, Isharul 24 not out, extras 12; Sadiqur 1-35, Ayub 2-40).

Result: Rajshahi won by seven wickets.