Rashedul Shines In Patron\'s
Opener Rashedul Haq followed up his one-day half-century the day before with a superb hundred on the first day of the four-day Patron's Trophy fixture between Bangladesh A and a formidable Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in Karachi yesterday.
The muscular right-hander hammered 110 off 189 balls to help the visitors post a face-saving 203 before being all out in 77.2 overs. The fluent stroke-maker scored a dazzling 72 in his first match of the inter-department competition of Pakistan on Sunday. But despite his efforts, the tourists failed to avoid a five-wicket defeat against PIA, which was the second successive defeat for Bangladesh A in the Patron's Cup one-day tournament.
The scenario also did not change on Monday with only Rashedul standing among the ruins. His century was certainly an appreciable effort considering the quality of the opponent's attack that included international off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and paceman Fazle Akbar, who played nine one-day internationals for his country.
Saqlain might have been out of international spotlight for quite sometime, but the champion spinner did most of the damage claiming six wickets for 80 runs. Moniruzzaman with 39 was the other notable run-getter for the travellers while paceman Alamgir Kabir's unbeaten 14 was the third highest contribution.
PIA were 22-2 at close of the first day's play. Alamgir and his young new-ball partner Ashraful Haque Shanto restored some pride for the visitors when they dismissed both the openers.
Source: Daily Star
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