Gayle blizzard blows Titans away from BPL 2017

Big stars shine in big games – so did Caribbean giant Chris Gayle. In the eliminator match between Rangpur Riders and Khulna Titans, Gayle storm just has swept away the opposition to eliminate from the fifth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League and kept Rangpur Riders remains strongly in the competition.

The competitive total of 167 runs scored by Khulna Titans were blown away by a terrific ton hammered by Christopher Henry Gayle as Rangpur Riders defeated Khulna Titans by a huge margin of 8 wickets.

The Jamaican superstar partnered with Sohag Gazi in the opening of the innings instead of Brendon McCullum. In the 24 run first wicket partnership, Gazi contributed a single run.

McCullum came to join in the show after the departure of Sohag Gazi, became the second hit of Jofra Chioke Archer in the same over before opening his account.

In the aftermath of the incident, it was all about Chris Gayle. Gayle hit, punched, smashed and drove each and everything that came towards him from Khulna Titans bowling department, left them clueless what to deliver.

14 shots went to far beyond the boundary line and into the galleries entertained a full house crowd at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

With a strike rate of nearly 250, Gayle squeezed 6 fours as well. Before the number of deliveries he played reached in the half century mark, the West Indian maestro reached in an exquisite century. He spent 45 balls to score the century.

On the other end of the wicket, Mohammad Mithun kept his silence with the bat and accompanied Gayle all through the innings till the end of everything.

Mithun played 36 balls in the Rangpur Riders’ innings to score 30 runs, successfully change the ends with singles to bring Gayle into the strike every time it was needed.

In the earlier part of the innings, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won a good toss and opted to field first.

Despite not having any big score by any of their batsmen, Khulna Titans managed to stand a good figure in the board.

Little cameo knocks from most of the batsmen in the line up helped Khulna Titans to score 167 runs after batting first.

Ariful Haque and Nicholas Pooran scored 29 and 28 respectively while Carlos Brathwaite and Mahmudullah Riyad made 25 and 20.

Lasith Malinga bowled straight and tight in the middle and later part of Khulna Titans’ innings although procuring 4 wides in today’s match as well.

Brief Score:

Khulna Titans 167/6 (20 overs)

Ariful Haque 29, Nicholas Pooran 28, Carlos Brathwaite 25

Lasith Malinga 2/49, Sohag Gazi 1/24, Nazmul Islam 1/19

Rangpur Riders 172/2 (15.2 overs)

Chris Gayle 126*, Mohammad Mithun 30*, Sohag Gazi 1

Jofra Chioke Archer 2/30

Result: Rangpur Riders won by 8 wickets.

Toss: Rangpur Riders. 

Source: bdcrictime