Rangpur Riders’ master blaster Chris Gayle overshadowed Dhaka Dynamites captain Sakib al Hasan’s record of picking up most number of wickets in a season when he smashed 146 off 69 balls in the final of the fifth edition of Bangladesh Premier League on Tuesday.
The Caribbean hard-hitting batsman hoisted Dhaka bowlers for 18 sixes to set up a new world record of most number of sixes in a Twenty20 innings in all recognised competition.
With his swashbuckling innings, Gayle surpassed his own record of 17 sixes which he hit during his unbeaten 175-run innings in an Indian Premier League match for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013.
His unbeaten 146-run innings and a record 201-run stand with Kiwi batsman Brendon McCullum (51 off 43 not out) guided Rangpur to post a mammoth total of 206-1, which killed the excitement half-way through the final.
Dhaka were struggling at 106-7 in 13.2 overs when this report was filed.
Sakib delivered an early blow for Dhaka after dismissing another in-form Caribbean Johnson Charles (3) in the second over to take his tally 22 in the BPL, which secured his status as the highest wicket-take in the season.
With his wicket Sakib emulated the feat of Kevon Cooper, who took highest 22 wickets in BPL season in 2015. He had the chance to overtake Copper and set a new record of picking most number of wickets in a BPL season.
But Sakib wasted the chance when he dropped Gayle in the sixth over.
Sakib, who was fielding at extra-cover, dropped a straightforward catch of Gayle who was batting on 22 runs off Mosaddek Hossain.
Gayle reached his fifty in 33 balls after hitting pacer Khaled Ahmed back-to-back sixes and a four in the 11th over but it was the only beginning of his something very special.
It took only 24 balls more to reach his second hundred in three innings after he made an unbeaten 126 against Khulna Titans in the eliminator on Friday.
He remained unbeaten till the end of the innings as there was no stopping of him.
Sakib, who was the only bowler to get some success in the match, was hit for three sixes in the final over of the innings.
This was the 20th career century of the 38-year old hard-hitting batsman in the Twenty20 format and he also became the first player to score 11,000 runs in this format during his destructive innings.
Among his 20 centuries, this was his fifth in the BPL while he struck five centuries in IPL, four in Caribbean, two for national team and others in different tournaments.
He also became the first player to hit 100 sixes [107 sixes] in the BPL history making that record in just 26 innings where Sabbir Rahman struck 47 sixes in 54 innings to the second position.
His devastating knock effectively dashed the hopes of Dhaka to defend the BPL title, giving Rangpur an extra-edge to win their maiden BPL title.
Source: New Age.
