Lewis lays down the marker

It was Brendon Taylor who first introduced Evin Lewis to the Bangladeshi media. During one of the many pre-match press conferences in Dhaka Taylor described Lewis as 'an exciting West Indian who could hit the ball quite hard.'

Lewis was drafted in the squad for the Barisal Bulls on Monday against Chittagong Vikings and while he did drive the second delivery for a four, he got out two balls later. An overstatement; many would have thought.

However, after his pyrotechnics yesterday, everybody in the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium and quite a few who desperately tried to shield themselves from those towering sixes— knew what Taylor was talking about.

After Kumar Sangakkara scored a hard-fought half-century and helped Dhaka Dynamites post 158, it was, naively so, deemed as a decent total by many. However, after Lewis took charge of the innings, that notion was torn into shreds.

He hammered an unbeaten 101 off 65 balls and sped the Bulls to a nine-wicket victory. It was the first century of the competition this year, eighth overall and was easily the most memorable knock in BPL Season 3. 

Make no mistake; several sixes and fours hit in the competition till date, however, the sheer power with which Lewis smacked them gave the bowlers real jitters.

While he did reach his half-century in the eleventh over off 39 balls, the highlight of his innings came after that. He clobbered Ryan Ten Doeschate for 26 runs in an over, which witnessed three huge sixes and two fours.

Thanks to Lewis's innings, Barisal's openers also posted the highest opening stand in the BPL this season, 127, surpassing Soumya Sarkar and Jahurul Islam's 102—scored in the first match of the day.

By the time his partner Rony Talukdar got out in the 14th over, the Bulls required just 32 off 37 balls.

It was the perfect setting for the 23-year-old to reach his first ever century in any format of the game. He had understandably slowed down a bit after Talukdar got out.

At 98 he had to fend off over number 18 against Mustafizur Rahman.  While he managed to take single off him early in the over, he seemed a bit nervous while negotiating his cutters.

In the last ball of that over he managed to push one down the leg-side and sprint all the way to the other side to reach his century. He celebrated it in style as he leaped and ran almost towards the boundary, leaving his bat on the ground.

 “It feels great man, my first T20 100 it feels great,” an excited Lewis told reporters after the match.

A dangerous player on the field, Lewis let out child-like grins during the post-match press conference.

 “I think the wicket was pretty decent and I backed myself. I waited on the slower balls and capitalized that was most important,” the West Indian explained.

 “It feels good you know, in T20 cricket to know that I can score in any part of the ground… that's excellent for me,” he added.

The player, who considers Chris Gayle his idol, looks forward to open the innings with the West Indian.

 “It's a dream for me to open with him and I hope it comes true. He is my mentor and I like hitting sixes like him,” said Lewis.