De Villiers, Lewis own Chattogram
It was an action-filled day at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday. The first Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) game, which Comilla Victorians won against Khulna Titans by 80 runs, saw an unbeaten century in the from Comilla's Evin Lewis and a hattrick from pacer Wahab Riaz.
The second game was also an exciting one as it saw an unbeaten 184-run third-wicket partnership – the highest for the wicket in BPL history -- between Rangpur Riders' AB de Villiers, who hit the second century of the day, and Alex Hales -- to guide their team to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Dhaka Dynamites.
In the day's first game, bottom-placed Khulna, led by Mahmudullah Riyad, suffered a hammering at the hands of Comilla. In a game that had nothing at stake for the Titans as they are already eliminated the race to the playoffs, Mahmudullah's men conceded 237for five -- the second highest total in the tournament's history -- and were also at the receiving end of a hattrick from left-arm pacer Riaz.
Asked to bat first, Comilla opener Evin Lewis marked his return from injury with a magnificent, unbeaten 49-ball 109 to help his side post the mammoth total. While Lewis shone with the bat, left-arm pacer Riaz entertained the crowd by dismissing David Wiese, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Saddam in the 19th over to wrap the Khulna innings up in style.
The second game of the day did not fail to entertain as well as it saw Rangpur Riders' big guns – opener Alex Hales and AB de Villiers -- fire at the top as their unbeaten record third-wicket partnership helped Rangpur chase the challenging 186-run total posted by Dhaka and win the game comfortably by eight wickets. De Villiers, hailed as Mr.360 showed why he got such a name as he authored a magnificent 50-ball 100-run knock. The South African was well supported by Hales as the right-handed Rangpur opener also remained unbeaten on 85 runs.
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