‘Comeback’ – a word with which a sport becomes interesting for people to watch. Whether the comeback is of any player or by a team, the elation, amazement is beyond explanation for any die-hard cricket fan. To quote it, Rajshahi Divison, on April 12, made a stunning comeback against Chittagong Divison that is pretty much unbelievable to accept.
Mushfiqur Rahim, Rajshahi Division’s skipper, won the toss and elected to bat first in the match against Chittagong Division in Bangladesh’s National Cricket League. Riding on some great bowling from Chittagong bowlers especially Abdullah Al Mamun, Rajshahi Division got reduced to 77/6 till lunch. What followed after that was one of the most breathtaking comeback. All-round Farhad Reza and number eight Sanjamul Islam added 347 runs – the third-highest seventh wicket partnership in first-class history before Muktar Ali hit 16 colossal sixes on day two and equalling the record of the most sixes hit in a first-class innings (with Andrew Symonds, Jesse Ryder and Graham Napier). He scored 168 off just 148 balls. Reza and Islam made 259 and 172 respectively and Rajshahi eventually declared on 675/9.
In reply, Chittagong Division never got going and they lost the match by 403 runs. Led by Ali and Reza, Rajshahi’s bowling struck at regular intervals courtesy the confidence they got while playing a brilliant innings and that resulted in Chittagong’s thrashing.
Farhad Reza was awarded the man of the match for his magnificient double hundred.
Here is the scorecard of Rajshahi Division’s comeback:
Couresy: espncricinfo
