A century by Evin Lewis coupled with Wahab Riaz’s hat-trick have powered Comilla Victorians to beat Khulna Titans by 80 runs in Bangladesh Premier League in Chattogram on Monday (Jan 28).
With the result of the tournament’s 33rd match, the Victorians rose to the top of point table while the Titans were kicked out of the BPL’s sixth edition.
Batting first, the Victorians posted 237 for five; the second-highest team total in BPL history after Rangpur Riders scored 239 against Chittagong Vikings on Jan 25 at the same venue.
Chasing the big target, the Titans fell for 157 all out in 18.5 overs.
Left-arm Pakistani pacer Riaz took a hat-trick in 19th over. He scalped David Wiese, Taijul Islam and Saddam Hossain in the third, fourth and fifth ball of the over.
Shahid Afridi also bagged three wickets while Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehedi Hasan and Thisara Perera took one each.
Titans’ Brendan Taylor offered some resistance hitting 50 off 33 balls with Junaid Siddique and Carlos Brathwaite adding 27 and 22 runs respectively.
Earlier, the Titans won the toss and opted to bowl.
For Victorians, Tamim Iqbal and Lewis had started well before Tamim fell for 25 off 29 balls.
The Victorians lost another wicket in the next ball. Mahmudullah Riyad took both of them.
Left-handed batsman Lewis and Imrul Kayes added 97 runs before Kayes fell prey to Shariful Islam. The Victorians captain posted 39 off 21 with four fours and two sixes
Lewis continued struck 109 off 49 balls with five fours and 10 sixes after while fan-favourite Afridi scored one off two balls.
In the sixth wicket stand, Lewis and Shamsur Rahman added 59 runs. While Lewis remained unbeaten for 109, Shamsur was not out at 28 off 15 balls.
For the Titans, Mahmudullah and Carlos Brathwaite took two wickets each while Shariful bagged the other wicket.
Victorians will face Chittagong Vikings in their next match on Jan 29 while Titans will play against Dhaka Dynamites on Feb 2.