DHAKA,—The match between Legends of Rupganj and Partex Sporting Club in the relegation league of Bangabandhu Dhaka Premier League (DPL) today was an inconsequential game one but the game saw a world record in ninth wicket partnership in T20 cricket.
Partex Sporting Club ended up losing the match to also end the league without any win but they were the part of the record as their batsmen Isharul Islam and Zainul Islam blasted 73 runs in the last five overs for the ninth wicket. Still they lost the match by 27 runs at BKSP-3 ground.
As the Legends of Rupganj had already retained their DPL spot and Partex, along with Old DOHS were relegated to first division, the match, which was held at BKSP today simply had no value
There was only one thing to see whether Partex could clinch any victory in the league. Partex usually failed to grab any victory and finish the league without any win after playing 13 matches including two relegation league games but still the match came into discussion for some records.
Opting to bat first, Legends of Rupganj put up a mammoth 200-3 in 20 overs, which was the highest score in this league so far. Later they restricted Partex to 173-8 to clinch a 27-run victory.
Mehdi Maruf and Jaker Ali, the two openers, gave Ruganj a high flying start, sharing 169-run for the opening stand. It is the second highest opening stand record in the country’s domestic Twenty20. In the 2012 BPL, Lue Vincent and Shahriar Nafees scored 198 runs for the opening stand, which is the best opening partnership in T20 on Bangladesh soil.
Mehedi Maruf was on the verge of century but in the 18th over Shahadat Hossain trapped him run out for 94 of 61 which included nine fours and six sixes, Jaker Ali blasted 76 off 48 with five fours and four sixes.
Partex lost its way from the beginning and were eight down for 100 in 15 overs. With the side standing on the brink of a big defeat, then came the surprise as Isharul Islam and Zainul Islam set a world record together!
The pair made 73 runs in the last five overs for the ninth wicket stand. The two hit five sixes and four sixes. No one in T20 history has scored so many runs in the past in a ninth wicket stand.
The previous record was set by Corey Anderson and Joe Davy. In 2016, two batsmen from Somerset scored 69 runs for the ninth wicket against Surrey in the England T20 Blast.
Isharul made 38 off 22 balls with four fours and two sixes. Zainul made 37 off 14 balls with one four and four sixes. Sohag Gazi grabbed 3-17 for Rupganj while Sunzamul Islam bagged 2-25.
