De Villiers ton, Hales tornedo cap big chase for Rangpur

Opener Chris Gayle and one-down Rilee Rossouw were gone with only five runs on board, but Alex Hales and AB de Villiers plundered 184 runs in the third wicket to lead defending champions Rangpur Riders to an eight-wicket victory over Dhaka Dynamites in their Bangladesh Premier League game on Monday.

De Villiers hit the tournament's fifth ton, exactly 100 runs in exactly 50 balls courtesy of eight fours and six sixes, while Hales powered 85 off 53 deliveries thanks to eight fours and three sixes.

Andre Russell had given Dhaka a great start with the double strike, but in the end had to finish in the losing side.

The win sent Rangpur to the top of the table courtesy of a better run rate, although the champions, who have 12 points like Comilla Victorians and Chittagong Vikings, have played one game more.

Batting first, a fifty from Rony Talukdar had helped Dhaka to make 186 for 6.

Rony slammed 52 in 32 balls while Sunil Narine contributed 28 and captain Shakib Al Hasan 25.

However, it was Kieron Pollard's 37 off 25 balls that led Dhaka to close to 200.

Farhad Reza bagged two wickets for the defending champions besides taking a sensational catch to dismiss Andre Russell.

AB de Villiers was predictably named the Man-of-the-Match.

Source: Prothom Alo