Usman Khan became the first batter in the 11th edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) to hit a century as Chittagong Kings crushed Durbar Rajshahi by 105 runs at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Pakistan recruit Usman slammed his T20 career-best 123 off 62, clobbering 13 fours and six sixes to steer Chittagong to a daunting 219-5, a total that proved to be too hot to handle for Rajshahi, reports BSS.
Durbar Rajshahi which came to play the match, winning a game just less than 24 hours ago, courtesy to a record-shattering 7-19 of fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, were eventually wrapped up for 114 in 17.1 overs.
Taskin stood tall once again amid his colleague’s failure and was the only bowler who conceded less than six runs per over. Sohag Gazi, who was second best in terms of leaking run, gave away 9.33 runs per over that was the testament of how good Taskin was.
Taskin eventually ended with 4-0-22-2 but even his good work couldn’t dent Usman.
After being asked to bat first, Chittagong lost Parvez Hossain Emon who got a second-ball duck but that made little impact, due to the carnage of Usman. He and Graham Clark added 120 runs for the second wicket with the latter hammering 25 ball-40 with five fours and two sixes.
With other batters providing support, Usman continued his whirlwind batting and got dismissed after helping the side go past 200 runs mark in penultimate over.
Haider Ali gave the finishing touch with 8 ball-19 not out.
Rajshahi’s Mohammad Haris gave the start what it needed to chase such a tall target. But he got little support from the other end. The top order including its captain Anamul Haque Bijoy crumbled under pressure, leaving the side at 41-2 in fifth overs. Mohammad Haris, however was dismissed in the sixth over after hitting team-high 32 off 15.
Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny and off-spinner Aliss Al Islam made regular inroads to finish with three wickets apiece.
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