DHAKA, Dec 18, 2020 (BSS) – Bangladesh T20 skipper Mahmudullah
Riyad achieved a domestic double after leading his side Gemcon Khulna
to clinch the Bangabandhu T20 Cup trophy.
Khulna beat Gazi Group Chattogram by 5 runs in a thrilling final
and Mahmudullah led the side from the front with a tremendous 48
ball-70 not out.
His knock helped the side recover from a shaky start to rack up a
competitive 1557-7, which proved to be enough at the end.
Earlier, the all-rounder, led Mahmudullah XI to the title of the
BCB President’s Cup, a three-team fifty-over tournament, in October.
Thereby he grabbed both of the one-day and T20 format trophy and
proved his captaincy credential.
Both the tournaments were part of Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB)
plan of bringing cricket back in the country after the lengthy
Covid-19 induced break.
Mahmudullah earlier was overlooked for the Tigers’ one-day
international captaincy position earlier this year.
After Mashrafe Bin Mortaza stepped down from the ODI captaincy post
in March, Mahmudullah was one of the candidates to take over the role.
He in fact was expected to be ODI captain as he was already captaining
Bangladesh in T20s.
But the BCB opted for Tamim Iqbal, whose team failed to play the
final of the BCB President’s Cup and got knocked out in the eliminator
in the Bangabandhu Twenty20 Cup.
Mahmudullah has previously led his side to the final of Bangladesh
Premier League (BPL) twice, Chittagong Kings in 2013 and Barisal Bulls
in 2015, but on both occasions his side ended up as runners-up.