Chris Gayle hammered an unbeaten 101 to carry Barisal Burners to a 10-wicket win over Sylhet Royals in the first match of the Bangladesh Premier League.

Gayle scored his century off just 44 balls with the help of seven boundaries and ten huge sixes.

Chasing Sylhet’s 165 for four off 20 overs, Barisal romped home in just 13.1 overs, thanks to Gayle and fellow-opener Ahmed Shehzad of Pakistan, who remained unbeaten on 56 off 35 balls with nine fours and a six.

Earlier, Sylhet scored 164 for four, with contributions coming from the captain, England’s Peter Trego, and veteran Bangladesh player Alok Kapali (56). Pakistan medium-pacer Yasir Arafat claimed two wickets for Barisal.

SCORECARD: Sylhet Royals: Kamran Akmal c Mithun Ali b Harwood 8, Imrul Kayesc Mominul Haque b Suhrawadi Shuvo 21, Peter Trego b Yasir Arafat 62, Alok Kapali b Yasir Arafat 56, Scott Styris not out 7, Sohail Tanvir not out 1.

Extras: (lb4, w6) 10.

Total: (for 4 wkts; 20 overs) 165.

Fall of wkts:  1-10 (Akmal), 2-52 (Kayes), 3-157 (Trego), 4-158 (Kapali).

Bowling: Yasir Arafat 4-0-33-2 (2w); Shane Harwood 4-0-20-1; Chris Gayle 4-0-27-0; Nazmul Hossain 4-0-36-0; Suhrawadi Shuvo 2-0-23-1; Brad Hodge 2-0-22-0.

Barisal Burners: Ahmed Shehzad not out 56, Chris Gayle not out 101.

Extras: (b2, lb1, w7) 10.

Total: (for no loss; 13.1 overs) 167.

Bowling: Sohail Tanvir 3 0 20 0; Rubel Hossain 2-0-25-0; Naeem Islam 1-0-5-0; Scott Styris 1-0-27-0 (5w); Brad Hogg 3-0-27-0; Noor Hossain 1.1-0-19-0 (1w); Peter Trego 1-0-23-0; Alok Kapali 1-0-18-0.

Chittagong Kings beat Rajshahi

In the second match of the BPL, Chittagong Kings defeated Duronto Rajshahi by 53 runs. Batting first, Chittagong scored 206 runs on a flat batting deck with useful contributions from Nasir Jamshed, JJ Roy and Mahmudullah.

In reply, Duronto struggled to get going as SM Ervine failed to open his account as Dwyane Bravo struck for the Kings.

Junaid Siddique did provide Rajshahi some home with a fighting 42 runs but regular wickets at the other end ensured that the run rate kept increasing. In the end, Duronto could managed just 153 runs on board and fell short by 53 runs.

Brief Scores:

Chittagong Kings: 206/4 (20/20 ov)

Duronto Rajshahi: 153 (19.5/20 ov)