Abahani Limited regained the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League title after one season after they beat Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Limited by four wickets in the last super league match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.
Afif Hossain confirmed the victory for Abahani by scoring an unbeaten 60 off 53 balls after Anamul Haque Bijoy and Mohammad Naim made 72 and 68 runs respectively as the Dhaka giants reached 285-6 in 49.2 overs to win the DPL title after the 2019-20 season.
It was also Abahani’s 22nd DPL title overall after the tournament was introduced in the 1974-75 season.
“It’s a great feeling to become champion. We were aiming to become champion from the start of the tournament,” Afif told reporters after the match.
“Our openers gave us good starts in the entire tournament which made the task easy. Middle-order batsmen were also in good touch and because of that it was possible to win the championship,” he added.
Earlier, skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan struck a blistering knock of unbeaten 89 off 70 balls with eight fours and four sixes while Taibur Rahman scored 53 runs as defending champions Sheikh Jamal posted a challenging total of 282-7 in their 50 overs after being sent into bat first.
Meanwhile, in the day’s other matches, Mohammedan Sporting Club beat Legends of Rupganj by four wickets in a nail-biting encounter at the BKSP-3 ground while Prime Bank Cricket Club defeated Gazi Group Cricketers by 73 runs in Fatullah to finish third in the league.
In Mirpur, Sheikh Jamal had a terrible start as they were reduced to 16-3 before Fazle Mahmud (40) and Taibur shared an 81-run stand for the fourth wicket to steady their ship.
After the dismissal of both the batters, Nurul shared two crucial stands of 83 and 60 runs respectively with Parvez Rasool (42) and Ziaur Rahman (29) and led Sheikh Jamal to a decent total in the title-deciding contest.
Tanvir Islam and Tanzim Hasan Sakib took two wickets each for Abahani.
Abahani, in reply, got off to a brilliant start thanks to their openers Anamul and Naim who put up a 145-run stand to set up a solid platform to win the contest.
Sheikh Jamal bowlers then took three quick wickets to bring their side back in the contest but Afif remained firm at one side of the crease and shared some crucial stands with wicketkeeper-batsman Jaker Ali Anik (21) and skipper Mosaddek Hossain (22) to take Abahani close to the victory.
Sakib then scored an unbeaten 12 off seven balls and hit the winning boundary off pacer Shafiqul Islam to confirm Abahani’s championship title.
“We tried our best to retain the championship. But this is as far as we could,” Sheikh Jamal skipper Nurul said after the match.
Meanwhile, in Savar, chasing a target of 299 runs, Soumya Sarkar struck a brilliant 102 off 112 balls while his opening partner Rubel Mia made 87 runs as Mohammedan reached 181-0 in the 32nd over.
Rupganj then made a comeback in the match by taking wickets at regular intervals but veteran Mahmudullah then struck an unbeaten 61 off 42 balls to help Mohammedan reach 300-6 in 49.5 overs to finish the tournament on a high note.
Earlier, Sabbir Rahman struck 82 off 90 balls while Irfan Shukkur made 78 not out as Rupganj posted 298-7 in their 50 overs after being sent into bat first.
In Fatullah, skipper Mohammad Mithun struck 57 off 62 balls while Zakir Hasan made 43 runs as Prime Bank posted 252-9 in 50 overs after they elected to bat first.
Pacer Sumon Khan claimed 4-45 while Tipu Sultan finished with 2-40.
Kashif Bhatt then finished with 4-41 while Rubel Hossain, Nasir Hossain and Alok Kapali took two wickets each as Prime Bank bowled Gazi Group all out for 179 runs in 43.1 overs to finish the tournament with 20 points.