Liton Das slammed his maiden T20 ton on the day he was left out of the Bangladesh Champions Trophy squad while his opening partner of Dhaka Capitals, Tanzid Hasan, who is likely to open in the CT, hit his second hundred.
The pair shattered the record books of partnerships in their record-infested 149-run win over Durbar Rajshahi at the Sylhet International Stadium on Sunday.聽
Dhaka, who were winless in their previous six outings in this edition, posted a mammoth 254 runs鈥攖he highest total in BPL history against one of the weakest bowling lineups this season.聽
In reply, Rajshahi stumbled to 105 in 15.2 overs to hand Dhaka the biggest margin of win in terms of runs in the BPL.聽
Liton made 125 off 55 with 10 fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 227.27鈥攐nly second to Tamim Iqbal鈥檚 231.14 in a century innings in BPL by a Bangladeshi batter, while Tanzid got 108 from 64 and hit six fours and eight sixes.聽
Together they added 241 runs for the first wicket鈥攕econd highest in T20 history, which bettered the previous best of BPL (Chris Gayle and Brendan McCullum鈥檚 201*) by 40 runs.聽
This is the first time in BPL and only the sixth time in T20 history that both openers from the same team reached hundreds.聽
After being put into bat first by Rajshahi captain Anamul Haque, the duo scored a moderate 22 runs from the first four overs. Since then, it was all carnage.聽
Rajshahi鈥檚 sloppy fielding helped the cause too, as by the fifth over, both Liton and Tanzid survived. Hell only broke loose for Rajshahi bowlers afterwards.聽
Liton reached his fifty in 24 balls and got to his maiden T20 hundred in 44 balls. Dhaka reached 100 in 8.3 overs and 200 in 16.3.聽
Rajshahi finally saw a wicket in the final over as Tanzid Hasan got out after reaching his hundred, which came in 62 balls.聽
The record of the highest total in BPL, which was set by Rangpur Riders against Chittagong Vikings, was always under threat, and Tanzid made sure Dhaka tied that before getting out.聽
Sabbir Rahman鈥檚 first-ball six got Dhaka ahead, and Liton topped that up with a last-ball six鈥攖he 18th of the innings, which is third joint in BPL history.聽
Abu Jayed had Mohammad Haris twice in the first over, as the first instance was overturned via a DRS.聽
Rajshahi then got nowhere as the batters seemed overwhelmed with the target ahead. All five Dhaka bowlers were among the wickets.聽
