Syed Khaled Ahmed’s ball was mistimed and caught at long-on by Abu Hider. The bowler threw his hands in the air with a shout. Some of the fielders ran and picked up the stumps. The celebration of the BCB South Zone title started around Khaled. BCB Central Zone was simply blown away by Southern Zone in the final of the Bangladesh Cricket League at Cox’s Bazar. They won innings and 33 runs in the second session on the last day of the match on Tuesday.

The southern region already holds the record for the most number of champions in the BCL. They made it even richer, winning the sixth title in this competition.

In the first part of the match, the southern region set the stage for victory. They declared the innings at 500 runs in the first innings and crushed the middle region for 230 runs. In the follow-on, the opponent was sent to bat again and stopped at 237 runs.
Shadman Islam won the Man of the Match award by playing a career-best 246-run innings on the way to capitalizing on Southern Paharsam. This is the first time the left-handed opener has tasted a double-century in first-class cricket. Marshall Ayub also made a big contribution by scoring 120 runs unbeaten.

Khaled did not let the central region go far in the second innings. This pacer took five wickets for 74 runs with the top and lower order. This is his fifth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. The Central region did not start the day well as they settled for 64 runs for 3 wickets. They lost three batsmen in 8 balls.

Jaker Ali (23 for 2 fours) was left lbw in the last ball of the 26th over bowled by Nazmul Islam. Khaled cut behind Mohammad Mithun who scored 49 runs with 1 six and 5 fours in the next over. After that, Nazmul Apu struck again. He gave a bitter taste of golden duck to Mosaddek Hossain. Ariful Haque could not last long, he was returned by Khaled.

Sharifullah and Abu Haider led the losing team by 7 wickets for 90 runs. With their bat, the middle region hopes to avoid defeat by an innings gap. Abu Haider scored his fourth fifty in first-class cricket in 70 balls with great batting, while Sharifullah’s fifty came in 105 balls.

Khaled broke the accumulated 121-run pair. He trapped Sharifullah LBW who scored 63 runs in 9 fours. Nazmul Apu sent Hasan Murad, who had accompanied Abu Haider for a while, to jail. In the end, Khaled returned Abu Haider with 77 runs with 4 sixes and 6 fours. Like the first innings, Nazmul Apu took three wickets in the second innings as well.