It's Rajshahi v Biman
Staff Correspondent, Ctg
Rajshahi scored an exciting five-run victory over Comilla to reach the final of the 26th National Cricket Championship at the MA Aziz Stadium yesterday.In a low-scoring match, Rajshahi relied on two individual performances by all-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman and medium pacer Rezwanul Islam Dola to set up a showdown against holders Bangladesh Biman tomorrow. Put into bat, Rajshahi recovered from the loss of two early wickets to post a modest 150 all out in 47.5 overs with Mushfiq, who was unlucky to have missed out on a call-up for the Australia bound national team's residential camp at the BKSP, top-scoring with 34 off 62 balls. He only struck one four. There was very little in the way of partnerships. The highest being 42 runs for the sixth wicket between Nuruzzaman Nayan (11) and Dola (14) that took the score from a perilous 61-6 to past the three-figure mark. Besides, Mushfiq, lower-order batsman Mahbub Mustakim was not out on a 47-ball 25. Last man Shahriar Hasan slammed the only six of the Rajshahi innings. Comilla used six bowlers to dislodge the fancied Rajshahi side. Monirul Islam Moni was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets for 30 runs. Veteran Bangladesh left-arm spinner Enamul Hoque took two wickets for 24 runs from his 10-over spell. Comilla made Rajshahi sweat and were tantalisingly close to snatching an upset victory only to fall short by five runs as they were all out with two balls of the stipulated 50 remaining. Rajshahi's Dola and Nayan thwarted their enterprising chase by sharing seven wickets. Man-of the-match Dola claimed four for 22 while Nayan bagged three for 22. Mushfiq also chipped in with two wickets. The top-scorer for Comilla was Sumon Barua with 34 while tail-ender Monirul added 25 of 34 balls which included a six. Defending champions Biman had thrashed Narayanganj by 103 runs on Sunday to move into the final.
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