Yet the leaders paid for playing one-day cricket style as they were bundled out for 250 in just 55 overs with Shahriar smashing 102 off 90 deliveries.

Chittagong and Sylhet, also invited to bat first, could not build commanding totals in the first innings in the other two fourth-round matches.

DHAKA-KHULNA
Shahriar, unwisely ignored by the selectors for this month's home series against Sri Lanka despite being in a purple patch that started in the Premier Cricket League, fought a lone battle to propel the Dhaka innings with yet another authoritative knock at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium.

Visiting Khulna, who lost the one-day match by six wickets on the previous day, put Dhaka into bat and their new ball pair tore apart home side's batting sharing nine wickets between them.

Rookie pacer Mohammad Shiplu, who replaced national star Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza in the line-up, took the first five wickets to finish with 5-69 from 18 overs while Ziaur Rahman destroyed the tail bagging 4-75 from his 18 overs.

Coming to the wicket at 27-2, Shahriar began where he had left off in a 38-ball 49 in Wednesday's limited-overs game at the same venue, launching a counter attack during a 112-run third wicket stand with Kamrul Islam. He cracked 15 fours and two sixes in less than two hours but Dhaka lost their way after the right-hander edged Shiplu to wicketkeeper Sahagir Hossain in the 34th over.

Dhaka lost wickets at regular intervals but it was Mohammad Sharif who gave the total some respectability, the number nine blasting his way to 48 off 38 balls with six fours and two sixes and putting on 36 runs for the last wicket.

Khulna made a decent start but Sharif once again played a crucial role, taking two quick wickets bowling as first change. From a comfortable 39-0, the visitors crashed to 54-3 before opener Nazmus Sadat (48) and Sahagir Hossain (16) took the total to 91 at stumps without further damage.

RAJSHAHJ-CHITTAGONG
Rajshahi pace quartet shared the honours as the home side bowled out Chittagong for 214 at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium. After Alamgir Kabir made early inroads and Forhad Reza dismissed national cricketer Nafees Iqbal, Ehsanul Haque's patient 94 off 145 balls steadied the innings.

But the Chittagong skipper, who hit 13 fours and two sixes in his three-hour vigil, was denied a deserved hundred when ex-international Mushfiqur Rahman had him caught by Farhad Hossain. Mushfiq took 3-52 while Forhad was the pick of the attack with 3-33 from 10 overs.

Rajshahi, in reply, lost Jahurul Islam to reach 68-1 at close of play.

BARISAL-SYLHET
Bottom-table Barisal were in the driving seat at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra when they shot out Sylhet for 193 before openers Imran Ahmed and Hannan Sarker wiped out 46 of those runs by the end of the first day.

Golam Mabud and Tapash Baisya were the two Sylhet batsmen to show some resistance with scores of 47 and 41 respectively.