A record partnership of 267 between Minhajul Abedin Nannu and Khaled Mahmud Sujan was the cornerstone of Bangladesh's 116-run victory over Bahawalpur in the Pool 'A' match of the National One-day Cricket Championship played at the UBL Sports Complex here on Tuesday.
Both hit unbeaten centuries as Bangladesh, who had lost to Habib Bank in their opening match, rallied magnificently after a dreadful start which saw the tourists slump to 38 for four in the 10th over after Bahawalpur skipper Tariq Sarwar decided to field first after winning the toss.
The partnership between Minhajul and Khaled erased the previous national one-day tournament's fifth-wicket record of 163 (unbroken) set by PIA's Zaheer Abbas (158 n.o) and Hasan Jamil (55 n.o) against Lahore City at Gadhafi Stadium (Lahore) in 1981-82.
Left-arm medium-pacer Kamran Hussain gave Bahawalpur a great start when his first spell earned him the wickets of Al Shahriar Rokon (three), Hannan Sarker (14) and Naimur Rahman (0). In between, Tariq Sarwar had his Bangladeshi counterpart, Aminul Islam, caught behind for one.
The arrival of 26-year-old all-rounder Khaled Mahmud Sujan to the middle not only stopped the rot but increased the pace of scoring. Batting with great flair, Khaled waded into the bowling in a spectacular manner as his partner adopted a careful approach.
Bahawalpur lost a golden chance to get rid of Khaled early on when left-arm spinner Faisal Elahi failed to hold a stinging return catch when the diminutive batsman had made just 10. The missed opportunity proved extremely costly as it transpired later.
Taking advantage of a lovely batting pitch, the right-handed pair exhibited a wide repertoire of strokeplay to the delight of a small but vociferous crowd who got their money's worth. Of the two, Khaled was the more adventurous and was the first to reach his century off 117 balls with six fours and two sixes.
The 200 of the partnership took 36.4 overs and soon after that milestone, the composed Minhajul completed his hundred, also taking 117 deliveries with the aid of only five fours.
The final ten overs of the innings produced 109 runs. Kamran, who had conceded 30 runs in his opening spell of seven overs, was mercilessly thrashed for 39 in three overs.
Khaled's 145 took, in all, 138 balls and included four towering sixes and 11 fours while the 32-year-old Minhajul struck seven boundaries in his 120-ball innings of 109 not out.
Set a daunting target of 306 at 6.12 per over, Bahawalpur were never really in the hunt although they had raised the 100 of their innings in 15.1 overs. However, by that time they lost one wicket too many and the innings folded up in the 37th over.
Had Bangladesh's fielding been upto the mark, the match would have ended much earlier than it finally did. No less than six catches were put down with Javed Sami, who top-scored with a 56-ball 65, inclusive of nine fours, benefiting three times. The only other man to contribute much was tailender Kamran Hussain, who hit a defiant 42 off 61 balls with five fours and was the last man out.
Mohammad Rafique claimed three for 39 with his left-arm spin and had the distinction of sending down the only maiden over of the day, the 83rd of the match.
But the Man-of-the-Match had to be Khaled Mahmud. He supplemented his brilliant hundred with three wickets with his seamers and a catch.