Captain-cool Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has lifted the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) trophy for the fourth time as his side Rangpur Riders beat Dhaka Dynamites by 57 runs.
The sun shone brightly upon the Dhaka outfit as the toss took their side and their decision to bowl first also initially proved to be a masterstroke as they sent Rangpur opener Jonhson Charles back to the pavilion with just 5 runs on the board.
But that was it as far as achievements of the Dhaka bowlers were concerned.
Rangpur’s Caribbean opener Chris Gayle and Kiwi hard-hitter Brendan McCullum smashed the Dhaka bowlers all over the park.
In their unbeaten 201-run second wicket partnership, Gayle topscored 146 off 69 deliveries which was hooped with 18 sixes while McCullum scored 51 off 43 deliveries.
On way to his 146-run innings, Gayle smashed two records, one being the first centurion in the final of any BPL and the other being the most sixes hit by any batsman in any T20 innings.
Shakib Al Hasan bagged the only wicket for the Dhaka side.
In reply, the Shakib-led outfit stumbled on to manage 149 for 9 in stipulated 20 overs handing the Rangpur side the massive victory.
Dhaka Dynamites could not recover from the initial hiccup of losing two wickets for just a single run and found them stuttering at 87 for the loss of 7 wickets in reply to the Riders’ mammoth score.
Jahurul Islam (50 runs off 38 balls) salvaged some pride for the Dhaka side as at one point it looked like they won’t be able to cross the 100-run mark.
Shohag Gazi, Isuru Udana and Nazmul Islam took two wickets each for the Rangpur outfit for 32, 25 Aand 8 runs respectively.
Gayle was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his heroics.