An unbeaten hundred from Evin Lewis helped his side Barisal crush Dhaka by nine wickets in the 16th match of BPL tonight.

Lewis finished on 101 from 65, and brought up the eighth hundred in BPL history, the fifth by a West Indian.

He smashed seven fours and six sixes to the delight of Bulls fans.

Abul Hasan took the only wicket to fall in Barisal’s near flawless chase.

After notching up the highest opening stand in this year’s BPL, Rony Talukdar was dismissed in the 14th over by Dhaka’s Abul Hasan.

The 127-run first wicket partnership between Rony and Evin placed Barisal Bulls on the path to victory in the chase.

Rony scored 38 from 34 balls with three fours and a six.

Evin Lewis gave Barisal a good platform to chase down Dhaka’s total with a blistering knock top of the order.

He reached 82 from only 46 balls, and his team looked in good shape with 118 runs from 12 overs with all the wickets in hand.

The West Indian took apart Tendo in the 12th over, and hammered 27 runs to deflate Dhaka’s chances.

Barisal openers Rony and Evin took the attack to the Dhaka bowlers early and stamped their authority in the game.

Both of them were quick to dispatch anything slightly loose to the boundary in a flash!

Barisal Bulls reached 41 by the end of the fifth over.

Barisal Bulls celebrate the fall of wicket during BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR

Earlier, some late hitting from Ryan ten Doeschate and Kumar Sangakkara pushed Dhaka to 158 for five in 20 overs against Barisal Bulls tonight.

Ryan smashed 45 from 32 and gave the boost with his big hitting during the death overs. He collected three sixes and a four in his unbeaten knock.

For Barisal Bulls, Kevin Cooper and Seekkuge Prasanna took two wickets each.

Kumar Sangakkara used the long handle late in the innings to good effect. He scored some quick runs but perished in the 18th over in that attempt.

Kevin Cooper sent Sanga back, not before the Sri Lankan scored 60 valuable runs from 47 balls with seven boundaries to his name.

Dhaka captain Sanga reached his fifty in the 16th over, and began to step on the gas.

He faced 42 balls, struck five fours and his presence gave Dhaka fans hope of a good total tonight.

Abul Hasan’s promotion as a pinch-hitter didn’t work out as the Bangladeshi bowler lasted only nine balls and scored eight runs.

His dismissal in the 11th over gave Bulls an opening to polish off Dhaka’s lower order. Only skipper Sanga stood in Barisal’s way.

Barisal Bulls were firmly in control of the match after their Sri Lankan recruit Prasanna got the big wicket of Nasir Hossain to hurt Dhaka’s chances of a challenging total.

Nasir tried to slog the ball back to Dhaka, only managed a top-edge and was safely pouched by Mahmudullah. Bangladesh allrounder scored five from six balls.

Dhaka were rocked in the eight over when Mahmudullah dismissed Thirimanner for only five runs.

Mahmudullah’s flight and guile fooled Thirimanne into coming down the track, and the batsman was beaten all ends up only see the wicketkeeper complete the stumping.  

Barisal Bulls struck the first blow in the fifth over when their West Indian allrounder Kevin Cooper dismissed Shykat Ali for 15.

Shykat looked shaky during his stay at the wicket poked at a ball outside off to bring his demise.

Barisal Bulls skipper called it right when the coin was tossed, and opted to field first against the Dhaka Dynamites in the 16th match of BPL-2015 at ZAC stadium, Chittagong.

Bulls and Dynamites both have six points from four matches, and cannot afford any more slip-ups as we reach the business end of BPL.

As only the top four teams qualify for the knock-outs, Bulls and Dynamites would like to be as high as possible in the points table after the round-robin stage.

Barisal looked quite professional in all departments of the game, and easily defeated Chittagong by 33 runs in their last match on November 30.

Dhaka are on a roll with two wins in their last two games, and their skipper Sanga would love to carry the momentum into this match against the Bulls.

Fans would like to see another close finish like the earlier matches in Dhaka at Chittagong as well.

However, only time will tell…

Barisal Bulls Team

Al-Amin Hossain, KK Cooper, N Dutta, CH Gayle, Imad Wasim, E Lewis, Mahmudullah (Captain), Mehedi Maruf, Mohammad Sami, Nadif Chowdhury, S Prasanna, Rony Talukdar (Wicketkeeper), Sabbir Rahman, Sajedul Islam, Shahriar Nafees, Sharifullah, Taijul Islam and BRM Taylor

Dhaka Dynamites Team

Abul Hasan, Farhad Reza, Irfan Sukkur, Mosaddek Hossain, Mosharraf Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Nabil Samad, Nasir Hossain, Nasir Jamshed, KC Sangakkara (Captain, Wicketkeeper), Shadman Islam, Shamsur Rahman, Shykat Ali, Sohail Khan, RN ten Doeschate, HDRL Thirimanne, MN Waller andYasir Shah

Dhaka batsmen take a run during BPL-2015. File Photo: STAR