Two brilliant knocks from Khaled Mashud Pilot and Anisur Rahman had posted Rajshahi Division well into a commanding position after day-3 of Ispahani Mirzapore Tea 3rd National League. Their opponent Khulna Division is fighting to evade the looming innings defeat with 147 for 4 at the close of the day.

Rajshahi had amassed 536 runs for 8 wickets when their swaggering skipper Khaled Masud decided to declare the innings against a Khulna first innings total of 239. Masud hammered the second double century (201 not out) in the League (Minhajul Abedin got the first one) with good support he got from Anisur Rahman (107) and the Shamimul Haque (43).

Masud, the skipper and wicket keeper of Bangladesh National team, has added more 144 runs to his overnight tally. To reach the double figure he sent the ball 18 times to score boundaries and chose the aerial for a single occasion. Thanks to his fifth wicket stand with Anisur Rahman that procured Rajshahi 155 runs.

With Shamimul he summed up another 108 runs in the next wicket and declared the innings soon after he reached his double hundred.

Khulna Division suffered a middle order collapse after a good start. Sajjadul Hasan (45) and Nahidul Haque (43) set in motion auspiciously as they gathered up 88 runs in the opening stand.

However, after Nahidul's departure Khulna middle order crumbled miserably as they lost the next 3 wickets in quick succession. At stumps they were pulling out all the stops on 147/4 with Hasanuzzaman (31) and Asadullah Khan (19) on the crease.

© CricInfo