Bangladesh Tigers tone up with match practice

Dhaka, May 6 (UNI) Even as the Indian team completed an ordinary camp at Kolkata, Bangladesh Tigers are toning themselves up for the home series against the Men in Blue with a practice match which Bangladesh Reds led by skipper Habibul Bashar won by 11 runs.

The Bangladesh ODI side, that has created waves by defeating teams like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India in the last six months, are determined to carry their good work forward by having enough match practice before the home series begins.

In their practice match today where the Bangladesh Reds led by Habibul Bashar faced the Bangladesh Green, the former prevailed.

Reds scored 207 in 50 overs losing seven wickets in a low scoring match and bowled out the Greens for 196.

While the major run getters for the Reds were openers Tamim Iqbal (48), who retired with a hamstring cramp, and Javed Omar 46, Aftab Ahmed made a decent 26. Bashar's poor string continued with nine, while Md Ashraful was run out for a duck, one of the three run outs in the red side -- something the think tank would look into.

In reply, the Greens were all out in 49 overs with Masraffe Murtaza top-scoring with 49 and Shahriar Nafees scoring 29, being the major contributors.

For the Reds, Shahdat Hossain with three for 51 from 10 overs and Aftab Ahmed three for 28 from eight were the wreckers-in-chief.

While the high point of the practice match was that the openers were in fine form, especially Tamim Iqbal who destroyed the Indian attack in the World Cup, the low was five run outs in two innings which showed total lack of understanding.

Meanwhile, the Indians completed their five-day camp in Kolkata and are scheduled to arrive here tomorrow at 1000 hrs Dhaka time.

UNI