Ejaz Ahmed celebrated his maiden appearance in Dhaka cricket with a fluent half-century to help Abahani Krira Chakra amass a fighting score against Surjo Tarun in a crucial Janakantha Premier League match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
The Pakistani right-handed batsman, better known as Ejaz Junior, hammered a polished 81 off 90 balls as Abahani, electing to bat after winning the toss in the morning, piled up 286 before being all out in 78.3 overs.
Coming in to bat at number six, the tall Faisalabad-based batsman held the innings together after Abahani lost half their wickets at 170 in 52.3 overs. He put on 60 runs for the seventh wicket with Neeyamur Rashid before the latter fell for 18.
Once Neeyamur departed a peerless Ejaz, who registered with Kalabagan a few year's back but returned home without playing a single match, showed the temperament of a class batsman to single-handedly guide the holders to an impressive total.
He reached his 50 off 72 ball with the help of two boundaries, but he cut loose in the last five overs. He clobbered ten runs from the first two deliveries off Anisur Rahman which included a huge sixer over long-on.
Anis, however, had the last laugh when he captured the most-sought-after wicket after an emotional bout with the Pakistani. The discarded national left-arm seamer and perhaps one of the few bowlers who loves to attack, after being hit in successive deliveries, went round the wicket only to tempt Ejaz for another big hit over mid-wicket. His ploy did the trick as Ejaz turned an attempted pull into the safe hands of Ridwan at mid-wicket. Anis, who had earlier dismissed wicketkeeper Tuhin with a rare bouncer, finished with two for 66 in his 15.3 overs.
But apart from Ejaz, the rest of the Abahani batsmen lacked the make-up of building the innings. And, much to the disappointment of a couple of thousand loyal sky-blue supporters, most of their batsmen threw away their wickets after settling in the middle.
Openers Mehrab and Azam gave Abahani a solid start, putting on 52 runs in 14.2 overs. But Mehrab, on 32 with the help of half a dozen fours, became the first victim of Enamul Haq when he offered a straight-forward catch at cover. Azam scored a patient 23 off 68 balls before being caught by wicketkeeper Khaled Masood off leggie Nadim Nazar, the most successful Kalabagan bowler with four for 65 runs in his 16 overs.
But it was Enamul who continued his superb form with the ball. The national slow left-armer, who virtually pinned down the Abahani batsmen, gave away only 28 runs in his allotted 16 overs which yielded three wickets.
Enam's prized scalps includes the wicket of Abahani skipper Akram Khan, who was trapped in-front of the wicket after making a rusty 22.
The portly right-hander also become a centre of controversy when one of the two Sri Lankan umpires turned down a confident catch in the slip by Minhazul while he was on 17. The dejected Surjo Tarun players, who claimed that Akram offered a big nick off Nazar, later made a human chain with eight men standing square of the wicket on the off-side in protest against the ruling.
Akram's deputy Naimur Rahman scored 44 off 84 balls that included seven fours. Azam Khan, another Pakistani recruit of Abahani, made 34 off 73 balls before falling to a sharp catch in the slip by Minhazul.
Meanwhile, in the other match of the day at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, Wari scored 243 against Orient before being bundled out in 72.4 overs.
The Wari total was built around a fine 85 from their Pakistani batsman Aamir Wasim and an absorbing 63-run stand for the last wicket between Monirul and Ariful.
The southpaw hammered seven fours and a couple of sixes in his 137-ball knock. He shared 88 runs for the fifth wickets with compatriot Tariq Mahmud after Wari were reduced to four for 43 in 13.5 overs. Tariq chipped in with 44.
For Orient left-arm spinner Sohail Islam took four wickets for 38 runs in his 16 overs while Aminul Islam captured three wickets for 31 runs in his nine overs.