The Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram witnessed a hundred and a hat-trick in the same Twenty20 game as Comilla Victorians demolished Khulna Titans by 80 runs in the Bangladesh Premier League on Monday.
Evin Lewis became only the second player after Chris Gayle to score two hundreds in the tournament when he hit an unbeaten 109 off 49 balls to power Comilla 237-5, the second highest innings total in BPL history.
Pakistani Wahab Riaz then grabbed a late hat-trick to wrap Khulna innings for 157 runs in 18.5 overs and ensure Comilla’s sixth win in nine matches, helping the side join Chittagong Vikings at the top of the points table.
The left-arm pacer dismissed David Wiese, Taijul Islam and Mohammad Saddam (0) in the 19th over to become the second bowler after Dhaka Dynamites’ Aliss Islam to bag a hat-trick this season.
Lewis, who missed the last four matches for a hamstring injury, showed no sign of rust smashing 10 sixes and five fours in his flamboyant innings to set up the win for Comilla.
Lewis, who earlier struck a hundred for Barisal Bulls against Dhaka Dynamites in the third season of BPL, injured himself in the second ball he faced but defied it to continue his natural stroke play for a reach dividend.
He put 58 runs with Tamim Iqbal in the opening stand but carried the side almost single-handedly after the dismissal of Tamim (25) and Anamul Haque (0) off consecutive Mahmudullah deliveries threatened to have slowed down their progress.
The twin dismissal, nevertheless, had hardly any effect on Lewis, who, along with skipper Imrul Kayes, kept the scoreboard flying, as the duo added 97 runs for the third wicket to take full control of the match.
Lewis became more aggressive after reaching his first fifty and hammered rookie pacer Saddam, who was playing his first BPL match, with 28 runs in the 14th over with four big sixes.
Khulna clawed their way back when Shariful Islam trapped Imrul leg before for 39 off 21 balls before Carlos Brathwaite dismissed Thisara Perera (11) and Afridi (one) in the same over.
But Lewis found an unlikely partner in Shamsur Rahman as the duo added 57 runs in the last four overs without allowing Khulna to settle down.
Shamsur, unbeaten on 28 off 15 balls, was hit by Saddam on his toe in the penultimate delivery of the final over, which denied Comilla the record total in BPL.
Lewis earlier brought his hundred off 47 balls, the quickest in the ongoing BPL, in style with a six off Saddam, who earned the dubious distinction of conceding the most number of runs in a BPL game after he finished his four overs with 0-59.
Khulna bowlers had also conceded 24 extras, including 21 wides, which contributed to Comilla total, something the tournament’s whipping boys got too big to knock off despite Brendan Taylor making 50 off 33 balls for the side.
