Dhaka: If there’s someone who has dominated T20 cricket ever since it began, it was been Chris Gayle. Over the years, he has bettered his own records in the format and in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final in Dhaka on Tuesday, the West Indies once again proved why he is one of the best in 20-over cricket.
The explosive left-hander smashed his way to an unbeaten 146 of just 69 balls while playing for the Rangpur Riders against Dhaka Dynamites in the BPL final. In the process, he also became the first batsman to go past the 11,000 run-mark in T20 cricket. He is followed by Brendon McCullum, who has made 8526 runs in 309 matches.
Gayle also became the first batsman to hit 20 hundreds in T20s. He has two T20I international hundreds as well. During the course of this powerful knock, Gayle hit a total of 18 sixes, which is again, a record in the format. He now has hit a whopping 819 sixes in his T20 career. The southpaw also became the first batsman to hit 100 sixes in the BPL.
Dhaka Dynamites, the team at the receiving end of this onslaught would however rue their missed chance when Shakib Al-Hasan dropped Gayle when the latter was on 22. However, the former West Indies skipper made full use of this chance as he along with McCullum powered their way to a huge 201-run stand-the highest in a T20 final as they ended up posting 206/1 in the first innings.
The bowlers of the Rangpur Riders outfit backed up the stupendous batting performance as they restricted the opposition to just 149/9, handing a 57-run win to Mashrafe Mortaza’s side.