DHAKA: Chris Gayle’s thunderous century and Ahmed Shahzad’s fluent half-century made Barisal Burners thrash Sylhet Royals by ten wickets in the inaugural Twenty20 match of the Bangladesh Premier League here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Friday.
Chasing a modest target of 166 runs, both openers showered a rain of fours and sixes to complete the victory in just 13.1 overs.
Gayle, the West Indian batsman made an unbeaten 101 from only 44 balls with ten sixers and seven fours while Shahzad was 56 not out from 35 balls with nine boundaries and a six.
Earlier, Sylhet Royals scored 165 runs for four wickets in the allotted 20 overs after being put into bat by Barisal Burners.
Captain Peter Trego (62) and Bangladesh international batsman Alok Kapali (56) were the main scorers for the Roylas while Pakistan’s paceman Yasir Arafat was the most successful bowler for the Burners with 2-33.
Geo Super showed the match live from Mirpur.
The second match of the tournament will begin from 5-30 between Chittagong Kings and Duronto Rajshahi at the same ground.