United News of Bangladesh

Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim guided Khulna Tigers to their fourth win in the ongoing Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) against Sylhet Sunrisers on Monday.  This match had some controversy as the Sylhet captain, Ravi Bopara, handed the leadership role right before the toss removing Mosaddek Hossain, was found altering the shape and state of the ball during the 9th over of the match, for which, they were handed a penalty of five runs. In the last over, Sylhet needed 36 runs, and Alauddin Babu smashed Kamrul Islam Rabbi for three sixes off the first three balls to create the last hope for his team. But in the end, Sylhet only managed 20, and Khulna won by 15 runs.  With this win, Khulna marched ahead towards the play-offs while for Sylhet, advancing to the play-off became a distant dream with five defeats in seven matches they have played so far. READ: IND vs WI ODI Series 2022: India triumph over West Indies in opening match   While batting first after losing the toss, Khulna posted 182 for three in 20 overs riding on the unbeaten stand of 136 by Soumya and Mushfiqur. In the fourth wicket stand, they came up with one of the best partnerships of the ongoing BPL.  Soumya scored 82 off 62 balls with four fours and four sixes while Mushfiqur hit 62 off 38 balls with six fours and two sixes.  BPL debutant Aks Swadhin and Sohag Gazi bagged one wicket each for Sylhet Sunrisers.  In reply, Sylhet opener Anamul Haque hit 47 off 33 balls with three fours and three sixes while Colin Ingram posted 37 off 28 balls with two sixes. And with three sixes in a row, Alauddin scored 25 off 7 balls for Sylhet, but that was not enough for them to avoid the fifth defeat of the season.   READ: BPL 2022: Barishal continue on winning-streak Along with doing well with the bat, Soumya shone with the ball as well taking two for 27. Besides him, Thisara Perera, the Sri Lankan allrounder of Khulna also took two wickets for them.  Khulna will take on Minister Group Dhaka in their next match on February 9 while Sylhet will lock horns against Fortune Barishal on February 8.

Left-handed Soumya Sarkar hit a ton for Walton Central Zone on Sunday as the third round of the Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) began on Sunday in Chattogram. Mohammad Ashraful, the former Bangladesh captain, scored a fifty for Islami Bank East Zone 0 the same day in Rajshahi. Riding on 70 of Ashraful, East Zone posted 166 all out in the first innings against BCB North Zone in Rajshahi. Also read: Jamie Siddons to rejoin BCB after a decade Apart from Ashraful, Afif Hossain did well with the bat scoring 37 while the other batters failed to impress. Shafiul Islam of North Zone bagged five wickets while Sunzamul Islam took three and Mohammad Sharifullah took two. At the end of day one, North Zone posted 71 without losing any wicket in 28 overs, with Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Junaid Siddique remaining unbeaten for 35 and 30 respectively. Also read: Nayeem takes six to stun Central Zone in BCL In the other match, Soumya hit a century for Central Zone against BCB South Zone. At the end of day one, Central Zone scored 293 for four with Soumy and Shuvagata Hom remaining unbeaten for 128 and 62 respectively. For South Zone, Nasum Ahmed and leg-spinner Rishad Ahmed bagged two wickets each.

Bangladesh sealed a comfortable win against Zimbabwe in the first T20 international of the three-match series in capital Harare on Thursday. Batting first, Zimbabwe posted a challenging total of 152 all out in 19 overs. In response, Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim hit a fifty each to guide the Tigers to an eight-wicket victory over the hosts.  Soumya and Naim added 102 runs, which is now the highest first-wicket stand in T20Is for the Tigers. Along the way, the openers surpassed Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das' record of 92 runs -- which the duo scored against the same adversary in March 2020.  Also read: Tamim, Shohan guide Tigers to ODI series sweep against Zimbabwe Soumya scored 50 off 45 balls with four fours and two sixes, while Naim remained unbeaten on 63 off 51 balls with six fours. Mahmudullah Riyad, the T20I captain, batted at number three and scored 15 off 12 balls with one four. Nurul Hasan Sohan came to bat next and remained unbeaten on 16 off eight balls with a four and a six.  Bangladesh scored 153 with seven balls to spare and won the game to take a 1-0 lead in the series.  For Zimbabwe, Regis Chakabva continued to perform well. He scored 43 off 22 balls -- the highest for the hosts. In the ODI series as well, he had scored two fifties.  Dion Myers also had a good start but he fell prey to Shoriful Islam.  For Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman bagged three wickets with two in the 19th over, while Mohammad Saifuddin and Shoriul scalped two wickets each.  Also read: Chakabva, Raza, Burl propel Zimbabwe to 298 in 3rd ODI The second and third T20I of this series will take place on July 23 and 25, respectively, at the same venue. 

Despite a blazing fifty from Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh lost the 2nd T20I of the three-match series against New Zealand at Napier on Tuesday by 28 runs in DL method.  At the end of the match, there are many talks are about the DL method under which Bangladesh’s revised target in the rain-hit game raised from 148 to 170 and then to 171. There was no official explanation about it after the game.  New Zealand batted first and scored 173 for five in 17.5 overs and right after that the rain hit the game and that was the end of the New Zealand innings.  2nd T20I: Bangladesh need 170 in 16 overs as rain hits the game Bangladesh started chasing knowing that they have to score 148 in 16 overs to level the series. But the game stopped after 1.2 overs and the target changed to 170 by the match referee Jeff Crowe. And later, the target was reset again to 171 runs in 16 0vers.  Liton Das fell early once again, and the right-hander continued on a poor run. He scored six this time around. Some came at number three and for the first time in this series, he looked like his expected form. The southpaw hit 51 off 27 balls with five fours and three sixes. But his aggression came to the end when he tried to clear Tim Southee and Adam Milne took a fine catch at the long-on area. The onus was on Mahmudullah Riyad to carry on the good batting display. He tried as well hitting 21 off 12 balls with four fours. But while scooping Milne through the leg area, he missed the ball and his stumps were shattered.  Also Read: Bangladesh opt to bowl first in 2nd T20 vs New Zealand With the dismissal of Mahmudullah, Bangladesh lost the race to the Kiwis. Eventually, the Tigers ended up on 142 for seven in 16 overs and lost the game by 28 runs under the DL method.  For New Zealand, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett and Adam Milne scalped two wickets each.  Earlier, after losing the toss and opted to bowl first, Bangladesh leaked away many runs in the first few overs. But in the fourth over of the game, Taskin Ahmed bagged the first wicket removing Finn Allen for 17 off 10 balls.  In the same over, Finn was dropped by the captain Mahmudullah Riyad. However, in the last ball of the over, Mohammad Naim took an easy catch to dismiss Finn who was playing his second ODI.  New Zealand lost two more wickets when Martin Guptill and Devon Conway fell prey to Mohammad Saifuddin and Shoriful Islam respectively. While Guptill fell in the last ball of the sixth over by a stunning catch from Taskin, Conway was dismissed off the first ball of the seventh over.  The rain hit the game for the first time in the match during the 13th over when the Kiwis were batting at 102 for four in 12.2 overs. The game was delayed by 10 minutes and no over was lost.  The rain came back when the Kiwis were batting at 173 for five in 17.5 overs and that was the end of their innings with Glenn Phillips scoring the highest— 58 off 30 balls.   For Bangladesh, Mahedi Hasan took two wickets while Saifuddin, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful took one wicket each.  The third and final T20 of the series will take place on April 1.  Before the T20Is series, the Tigers faced off the Kiwis in three ODIs and lost the series 3-0. Bangladesh are yet to register any win in New Zealand. 

After uncomfortable cricket in the first session of day one of the second Test of Bangabandhu Test series against West Indies, Bangladesh made full use of the second session as Soumya Sarkar and Abu Jayed Rahi scalped three wickets before the tea break on Thursday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

On the first day of first two-day intra-squad of Bangladesh national team, Saif Hassan and Soumya Sarkar hit the fifties while Taskin Ahmed and Taijul Islam shone with the ball taking three wickets each.