DPL week 2: Mashrafe bags five-for with offspin as veterans shine

Abahani Limited are on a hot streak in the Dhaka Premier League after winning their first six matches on the trot. They are on top of the points table while Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Legends of Rupganj and Mohammedan Sporting Club are behind them with ten points each. Only net run-rate separates the three teams.

The veterans stepped up this week with Shakib Al Hasan making important contributions for Sheikh Jamal - including a fifty and three wickets in two games, while Tamim Iqbal struck three fifties in a row for Prime Bank Cricket Club. Mashrafe Mortaza was the biggest surprise taking 5 for 19 bowling offspin against Gazi Group Cricketers on his way to his eighth five-wicket haul in List-A cricket.

Parvez Hossain Emon has hit three centuries in this DPL season. He is the first to cross the 400-run mark in the competition, with Mohammedan's Mahidul Islam Ankon (373 runs) hot on his heels.

Ankon struck three fifties this week, helping Mohammedan to five wins so far. Tamim too had a productive week with three fifties while Emon and Towhid Hridoy were the only centurions. Hridoy struck an unbeaten 125 off 84 balls for Abahani against Rupganj Tigers Cricket Club, with six sixes and eleven fours. Abahani won that game by 140 runs. Emon's 110 though came in a losing cause as Mohammedan beat Prime Bank by one wicket at BKSP-4 in Savar.

Maruf Mridha, the young left-arm quick who plays for Gazi Tyres Cricket Academy, has risen to the top of the wicket-takers' chart with 16 scalps. At the other end of the experience scale is Legends of Rupganj's Mashrafe, with his five-wicket haul. Abahani's left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam took the other five-for this week, with figures of 6-3-7-5 against Brothers Union.

Mohammedan's one-wicket win against Prime Bank could be decisive in the title race. Batting first, Prime Bank raced to 218 for one with openers Emon and Tamim, and No. 3 Sabbir Rahman all firing. They collapsed thereafter, to be 279 all out.

Mohammedan were given a revised target of 272 runs in 47 overs after rain interrupted play at the BKSP-4 ground, in the 33rd over. After Ankon's 78, it was their No. 8 Abu Hider, whose 36-ball 54 took Mohammedan home from 159 for 6.

Abahani continue to dominate the points table but they could face stiff competition from old rival Mohammedan and a new one in Sheikh Jamal. Rupganj Tigers and City Club remain winless while Partex Sporting Club, Gazi Tyres and Brothers Union have all opened their accounts.

After allrounder Ariful Islam and left-arm spinner Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby made good starts in the first week, Maruf Mridha shone among the Under-19 graduates this season. Prime Bank opener Emon has also shown consistency with his three centuries while Mohammedan's Ankon is steadily rising too.