The 27th National Cricket League (NCL) four-day match at Shahid Chandu Stadium in Bogra ended in three days due to the bowlers’ dominance. On the third day of the match on Sunday, Sylhet defeated Chittagong by 147 runs and moved up to second place in the points table.

Pacer Abu Zayed Rahi of the winning team was adjudged the Player of the Match with 9 wickets.

Sylhet, who had scored 196 runs for 6 wickets the previous day, went out to bat for 207 runs on the third day. As a result, the target for Chittagong to win was 352 runs. Amit, who was unbeaten on 58 runs the previous day, returned to the dressing room without scoring any runs. After that, no other batsman could survive the cricket for long. Sylhet lost the last 4 wickets for just 11 runs. Ifran and Naeem Hasan of Chittagong took 5 wickets each.

Chasing a huge target of 352 runs, opener Sadiqur was dismissed for a duck. Then, after losing 3 more wickets in 73 runs, Chittagong’s defeat became a matter of time. Shahadat Hossain Dipu held the bat firmly at one end, but no one could help him at the other end. As a result, Chittagong was stopped at 205 runs. Dipu scored 62 runs. Sylhet’s Abu Zayed Rahi took 4 wickets and Rezaur Rahman Raja took 3 wickets. Abu Zayed Rahi was adjudged the Player of the Match after taking 9 wickets in two innings.

Short Scores:
Sylhet: 1st innings- 255 (Zakir 73, Raja 57* Ashraful 46, Ifran 65/5, Mehedi 41/3)

Chittagong: 1st innings- 110 (Ahmed Sharif 23, Ashraful 22, Rahi 37/5, Raja 28/2)

Sylhet: 2nd innings- 207 (Zakir 61, Amit 58, Ifran 38/5, Naeem 66/5)

Chittagong: 2nd innings- 205 (Dipu 62, Irfan Shukkur 37, Rahi 43/4, Raja 76/3)

Result: Sylhet won by 147 runs

Player of the Match: Abu Zayed Rahi (Sylhet)