Chris Gayle, showed the money spent on him was worth paying, burned Sylhet Royals with a marauding century to steer Barisal Burners to a 10-wicket win in the opening match of the Bangladesh Premier League on Friday. The mercurial West Indian, a $551,000 pick by Burners, hammered 101 off just 44 balls to make the win ridiculously easy for the Barisal franchise despite Royals setting a challenging target for them.
Half-centuries by skipper Peter Trego and icon player Alok Kapali helped Royals post 165-4, a decent total if not mammoth on the slow surface at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
But it looked nothing in front of Gayle, who joined Burners only in the morning and took no time to announce his arrival with an array of strokes that had already made him a Twenty20 superstar.
The in-form Gayle, first player to hit a century in a Twenty20 International, struck as many as 10 sixes along with seven fours as Barisal reached 167 without losing any wicket and with nearly seven overs in hand.
He smashed the winning six off leg-spinner Nur Hossain on the roof of the stadium, symbolising his innings that was full of power and beauty.
Gayle, who took 88 off his total runs through boundaries and over-boundaries, completely overshadowed Pakistani Ahmed Shehzad, who was almost equally destructive hitting 56 off 35 balls with nine fours and a six.
Burners however did not overlook his contribution and rewarded him for his unbeaten fifty with $2500 while man-of-the-match Gayle received $5000 bonus from his franchise.
Had it not been Gayle appearing in such a devastating mood, it would have been easily a day for Sylhet’s icon player Alok Kapali, who was struggling with his form in recent times.
Alok scored only 123 runs at an average of 15.38 in 11 matches in the Dhaka Premier League for Gazi Tanks and his form made his franchise bargain with the BPL governing council about his icon money.
An embarrassed Alok grabbed his first chance in the BPL to show his franchise that he deserved some respect from them when he struck 56 off 36 balls with six fours and two sixes.
Opting to bowl first, Barisal earned their first breakthrough only in the second over when Australian paceman Shane Harwood dismissed Kamran Akmal for eight.
Sohrawardi Shuvo had in form Imrul Kayes caught by Mominul Haq for 21 off 18 balls to bring Alok to the crease. Skipper Trego (67) and Alok added 105 runs for the third wicket before Pakistani pacer Yasir Arafat bowled both of them in the space of three balls in the final over.
-With New Age input
