West Indies opener Andre Fletcher hit the first hundred in the ongoing Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League as Sylhet Thunder got their first points with an emphatic 80–run victory over Khulna Tigers at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday.
Fletcher scored 103 off 57 balls that contained eleven fours and five sixes as Sylhet posted 232 for five. In reply, Khulna were all out for 152 runs in 18.3 overs to taste their first defeat in four matches.
Sylhet set a challenging target for Khulna thanks to two West Indies batsmen, Fletcher and Johnson Charles, who added 150 runs for the second wicket.
Charles smashed eleven fours and five sixes during his 38-ball 90.
Prior to their match against the Sylhet Thunder, Mushfiqur Rahim’s Khulna Tigers were the firm favourites as the latter were unbeaten after three games. It was more so as the Thunder were on a four-match losing streak. However, Mosaddek Hossain’s Thunder defied the odds and came out trumps by 80 runs in Chattogram. It was also their maiden victory of the Bangabandhu BPL 2019-20.
The Tigers have chased well in the BPL and it wasn’t a surprise that Rahim’s men elected to field first. Robbie Frylinck castled Abdul Mazid to strike first blood. From there on, Johnson Charles (90) and Andre Fletcher (103*) went bonkers and put on a 150-run stand for the second wicket off 70 balls. Shahidul Islam picked up Charles to break the ominous looking pair against the run of play.
Charles’ knock off 38 balls was laced with 11 fours and five sixes. Though Charles missed out on his century, Fletcher didn’t and got to his maiden T20 ton off 53 balls with 11 fours and five sixes. Mohammad Mithun missed out and became Frylinck’s second victim. Barring Robbie, every other Tigers’ bowler went in excess of 10 rpo. In the end, the Thunder amassed a massive score of 232.
The Tigers got off to the worst possible start as Monir Hossain castled the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a golden duck. Saif Hassan got 20 runs, but at a run-a-ball, which didn’t help the Tigers. But he was involved in a stand of 74 runs with Rilee Rossouw (52), who had to play out chunk of the overs to take Khulna close. But Naveen-ul-Haq got Rossouw to almost seal the fate of the game.
Ebadot Hossain removed skipper Mushfiqur to make the rest of the game a mere formality. Robbie Frylinck churned out a 20-ball 44 with six fours and a couple of sixes, but the required rate had already gone out of the Tigers’ radar. The rest of the batters went for the big shots without much success. Eventually, Khulna were bowled out for 152 runs with nine balls left in the innings.
Score: Sylhet Thunder – 232/5 (Fletcher 103*, Charles 90; Frylinck 2/37), Khulna Tigers – 152 (Rossouw 52, Frylinck 44; Krishmar Santokie 3/37)