Sports Desk: The Mohammedan-Abahani match has lost none of its charm, attraction, excitement and rivalry. The enthusiasm, interest and enthusiasm of the spectators have also decreased a lot. At one time, the number of spectators in the Mohammedan-Abahani match decreased, and the gallery was filled with the chatter of the supporters of both teams.
The fight between the two eternal rivals used to be the talk of the country in Bangladesh back then. Today, none of that is there. Even then, there is none of that in the white, black and sky-blue yellow duel. Not even 100 spectators were present at Sher-e-Bangla to watch the match between Nazmul Hossain Shanta’s Abahani and Towhid Hridoy’s Mohammedan on Saturday. The gallery is buzzing.
But a young opener made the Mohammedan-Abahani duel memorable in this empty field; Anisul Islam Emon. This 25-year-old from Narayanganj gave a great century against Abahani.
Mohammedan scored 264 runs on the back of Anisul’s 114 runs from 118 balls. They were all out in 48.2 overs after losing the toss and opting to bat.
They were almost sitting in the entire league. What could they do without them? Mohammedan had the opening slot arranged with the country’s best openers Tamim Iqbal and Rony Talukdar. After Tamim suffered a heart attack in match number 7, Mohammedan was forced to change the opening pair. In that match, Mehedi Hasan Miraj opened in place of Tamim and scored a century.
Anisul Islam Emon did not get a chance in the next two matches either. In the previous match against Agrani Bank, he opened with Rony Talukdar and was run out for 2 runs. Emon came out on Saturday as if he had made a vow, saying, ‘I have to show something, that was the determination. This century is proof of which.’
As soon as the news of Emon’s century at the Home of Cricket Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur spread on social media, a question is popping up in everyone’s mind. Who is this Emon? What is his identity? Where did he play at the age-based level? Has he ever played in the national youth (Under-19) team? How long is his cricket career? Has he scored a century in Dhaka club cricket before?
These are curious questions on the minds of many. To satisfy that curiosity, Anisul Emon, despite not being very famous, has been playing in the Dhaka Premier League for the past 6-7 years; from 2018-2019.
However, he has not played for the Under-19 national team. And he has only one century in the Dhaka League. That was against Agrani Bank for Brothers Union in 2023. 2 years ago, on March 28, at BKSP No. 3 ground, Emon played a whirlwind innings of 107 runs in 114 balls, 5 sixes and 7 boundaries, against Agrani Bank.
And today, on April 12, against Abahani at Sher-e-Bangla, this youngster from Narayanganj played a brilliant innings of 114 runs in 118 balls, 18 boundaries and 2 sixes. Pacer Nahid ranar played a pull on a bouncer and played all the bowlers of Abahani with ease before returning with a catch at deep square leg.
Those who keep track of the ins and outs of Dhaka cricket know that Anisul Islam Emon is a young opener who gets out after playing a whirlwind innings of 25 to 30-35 runs. In that innings around 30 runs, there are 5-6 fours and one to two sixes.
But today, we met a different Emon. He played at almost the same pace and rhythm. He played 45 balls to reach his first fifty. He hit 9 boundaries and 1 six. He played 59 more balls to reach his next fifty. After hitting a boundary with extra cover off Mrityunjay’s ball and reaching 95 to 99, Emon completed his century by cutting between points and the ball one ball later.
While Emon completed his century by keeping the run wheel moving on one side, Mohammedan’s batting was not good on the other side. Except for Mahidul Islam Angkan (48 off 55 balls), no one else got runs. Roni Talukder (16), Towhid Hridoy (3), Mushfiqur Rahim (20), Mahmudullah Riyad (17) and Saifuddin (1) made a procession of failures.
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