Roqibul shines in T20 warm-up

Batsman Roqibul Hassan continued to shine in the warm-up games as it was his half-century that guided Bangladesh Green to a comfortable four-wicket win over the Red’s in the first practice match, ahead of the ICC World Twenty20, at the National Cricket Academy ground on Tuesday. 
Earlier, Roqibul impressed everyone in a practice match at the very ground with a blistering 61-ball 140 to earn Bangladesh ‘A’ team a nine-wicket win against the national side before their Europe tour.
The performance eventually earned him a place in the 30-member preliminary squad of the World T20, but his lack of form with the ‘A’ team in the Shafi Dharashah tournament could not get him a place in the short-list.
On Tuesday, Roqibul’s 36-ball 50 and Mahmudul Hasan’s unbeaten 21 helped the Green to reach 103-6 in just 13.5 overs after pace bowlers Dollar Mahmud (3-9) and Shahadat Hossain (3-36) led the Red’s destruction to dismiss them for 101 in 14.1 overs.
Junaed Siddique made 34 from 15 balls while Elias Sunny scored 24 to give some respectability to the score of Red’s, a side mainly compromised with the national players.  
National skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Nasir Hossain and Mohammad Ashraful were missing from the line-up as they are involved in the Sri Lankan Premier League while Mashrafee bin Murtaza was out with illness. 
However, Tigers coach Richard Pybus was not worried with the outcome of the result as the game was played in a picnic mood at a ground way below the standard size.  
‘There is nothing to worry as it cannot be termed as a full-fledged cricket match. The ground is very small and does not fill all pre-requisite to play a proper game,’ Pybus told reporters.  
Batsman Jahirul Islam, who had no meaningful contribution in Red’s total, echoed the coach and said that lack of ground available to play was the reason for playing at this field. 
‘We’ve no alternative stadium to play practice matches at this moment. Even our national stadium is not ready so we are playing in this ground,’ said Jahirul.