Half centuries from skipper Akram Khan and opener Mehrab Hossain helped reigning champions Abahani pile up a commanding total against Biman in a crucial Janakantha Premier Division Cricket League match which began at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium yesterday.
The match was stopped for five minutes at the stroke of Tea because of an undesirable incident, which saw Abahani skipper Akram Khan, after a verbal row with Sri Lankan umpire Philip Mendis, leaving the crease without the umpire's permission and talking to the club officials near the pavilion boundary rope. After watching the developments for about five minutes, the umpires apparently signalled for Tea and were coming to the dressing room for the break. That prompted a few Abahani officials Professor Shah Alam Chowdhury and Tara to attack the umpires. (See 'Bad show, Akram Khan!) The umpires were then seen running to save their lives as no Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolitan (CCDM) officials or any other member of any lawenforcing agency were present at that time.
Back to the match, on a dry and cold morning, Abahani skipper Akram Khan won the toss and decided to bat against the national airlines.
They lost their first wicket on 44 in the 17th over when opener Azam Iqbal was bowled by Pakistan leg spinner Manzoor Akhter. The righthand batsman went on his back foot and missed the line of the ball.
After Azam's return, Mehrab, the other opener, gave a solid foundation to Abahani innings with a 99run partnership with onedown Naimur Rahman. The duo batted quite sensibly and took Abahani to lunch on 134 in 34 overs without any further loss.
The partnership was broken by former national leftarm seamer Jahangir Alam Talukder in his second over after lunch when he trapped Mehrab legbefore with a gem of an inswinger.
In his more than threehour stay at the crease, Mehrab, who has been included in the 30man primary list for the 1999 World Cup, scored 65 off 113 balls, which included seven boundaries and a huge six off leftarm spinner Saifullah Khan in the 33rd over.
Abahani lost two more wickets in quick succession before Akram Khan and Pakistan middleorder Azam Khan put on a 65run partnership for the fifth wicket which saw Abahani crossing the 200mark in the 54th over.
Biman's leftarm spinner Saifullah Khan broke the partnership in the 62nd over dismissing Azam Khan on 37.
The righthand discarded Pakistan international gave a thin edge to wicketkeeper Atiar while trying to cut Saifullah. In his 72ball stay Azam smote four fours and a six.
Akram then paired with Neeyamur Rashid and put on a 71run partnership in the sixth wicket before being brilliantly caught by his Biman counterpart at midoff. Faruque's catch was one of the best ever at this ground.
Akram, in his 103ball 68, hammered only two boundaries and a six.
After Akram's departure, Neeyamur and Hasibul Hossain took Biman bowlers to the sword and helped Abahani reach the 300mark with a 30run partnership.
Apart from the Akram Khan incident, a few Abahani cricketers showed their arrogance while responding to the umpire's decisions.
Pakistan middleorder Ejaj Ahmed kept standing on the crease after he was adjudged legbefore on three. His compatriot Azam Khan was also seen reluctant to leave the crease after he was given a caught behind verdict.
Meanwhile, in the other match of the day, Wari scored 240 against Agrani Bank before they were all out at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium in 77.4 overs.
Pakistani middleorder Amir Wasim scored highest 93 followed by lower middleorder Biplab who chipped in with 30.
In reply, the bankers managed 13 in five overs without any loss.
Both the matches will continue today.