Dashing batter Towhid Hridoy struck his first century in recognized T20 cricket as Comilla Victorians beat Durdanto Dhaka by four wickets for their fifth victory in seven matches in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) on Friday evening at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Hridoy who reached his century off 53 balls, finally hit an unbeaten 108 off 57 with eight fours and seven sixes to steer the side to hunt down Dhaka’s challenging 175-5 with a ball to spare. Fittingly he made the winning single to take the side in the second spot in point table, reports BSS.

Hridoy became the sixth Bangladeshi batter to hit a century in BPL. Tamim Iqbal is the only batter of Bangladesh to score two BPL centuries.

Hridoy drove the side single-handedly towards the victory with the next-best of 34 coming from Brooke Guest’s willow.

In pursuit of 176-run target, Comilla slumped to 23-3 with Will Jacks (9), captain Liton Das (8) and Imrul Kayes (1) all fell to single digit figure to give Dhaka a hope to register their only second victory.

Hridoy, ably supported by Brooks, steadied the ship with 84-run partnership for the fourth wicket stand and brought the side back into the contest.

Dhaka thereafter clawed back with the wicket of Brooks, Raymon Reifer in quick succession. But Hridoy launched a spectacular attack to tear apart the Dhaka bowlers and helped the side gun down the big total.

His century however is the first in the ongoing BPL.

This was Dhaka’s seventh defeat in eighth match, which almost ruined their hopes to play the playoffs. But after electing to bat first, they posted a total which gave them the hopes of winning the game. Despite losing Chaturanga de Silva cheaply, Naim Sheikh and Saif Hassan kept the side afloat with a 119-run partnership for the second wicket stand. Both of the batters hit half-centuries with Naim continuing his rich vein of form, hammering 64 off 45 with nine fours and one six.

Saif Hassan made 42 ball-47, clobbering four fours and three sixes. Matthew Ford who finished with 3-35, removed both of the batters in the specie of three balls but Alex Ross’s 11 ball-21 not out gave the side a big total, which eventually mattered little due to the individual brilliance of Hridoy.

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque