Comilla Victorians won BPL 2019

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal came up with one of the most eye-catching T20 innings in the Final of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2019. Tamim heroics with the bat in Dhaka helped Comilla Victorians beat three time champions Dhaka Dynamites by 17 runs and win their second title.

Tamim had been struggling for form in the lead up to the final but he stepped up on the big night and broke an array of records as he took the Dhaka Dynamites attack to the cleaners. Tamim hit an unbeaten 141 from just 61 balls, his first century in the BPL that had 11 sixes and 10 boundaries. Tamim 141 was the second highest score in a T20 tournament final and it helped the Imrul Kayes-led Comilla Victorians post 199. He also became the first Bangladesh batsman to hit more than 10 sixes in a T20 match.

Even as his much-fancied teammates were struggling to put bat to ball on a tricky Mirpur wicket, Tamim was hitting the big ones at will. Tamim showed little respect to the likes of Andre Russel, Shakib Al Hasan and Rubel Hossain as he scored heavily against the big boys of Dhaka Dynamites. Dhaka Dynamites looked like they would render Tamim special knock in vain when Upul Tharanga and Rony Talukdar took on the Victorians' bowling attack after Sunil Narine was run out in the very first ball of their 200-run chase.

Tharanga and Talukdar stitched a 102-run stand in just 8.4 overs before Thisara Perera got the wicket of his Sri Lankan teammate with a slower ball. Once the big partnership was broken, the Dynamites imploded as the likes of Shakib, Andre Russel, and Kieron Pollard were dismissed cheaply. Talukdar looked to keep the Dynamites in the hunt but he was run out (for 66 off 38 balls) after a mix-up with Pollard in the middle.

The Dynamites felt the pressure of chasing a big total in the final as their seasoned campaigners, including the likes of Shakib, Pollard and Russell, were unable to get going. Wahab Riaz shone for the champions with figures of 3/28 while Mohammad Saifuddin and Thisara Perera picked up two wickets each. There were a couple of costly run outs that brought the downfall of the Dynamites.

2017 Bangladesh Premier League

Records and Chris Gayle are synonymous to each other when it comes to Twenty20 cricket and the explosive West Indies batsman went on to better his plethora of records he made in the shortest format of the game.

Gayle, who smashed an unbeaten 146 off just 69 balls for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League final against Dhaka Dynamites in Dhaka, became the first batsman to cross the 11-000 run mark in T20 cricket. Next in the list is Brendon McCullum with 8526 runs in 309 matches. During the course of his belligerent knock, Gayle also became the first batsman to hit 20 hundreds in T20s, which was studded with 18 towering sixes and five fours. He has also scored two hundreds in T20I for West Indies.

The number of sixes hit by Gayle is also a world record in an innings in the format. His sixes count in T20 cricket reached whopping figure of 819. In the process, Gayle became the first batsman to hit 100 sixes in BPL. He smacked 17 sixes in an unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in the IPL 2013.

Gayle, who got a life when he was dropped by Shakib Al Hasan on 22, shared an unbeaten 201-run stand with McCullum - a highest partnership in T20 final - to power Rangpur Riders to 206/1. Bowlers complemented their batsmen effort with a good show, reducing Dhaka Dynamites to 149/9 as Rangpur Riders won the title by 57 runs.

2016 Bangladesh Premier League

Dhaka Dynamites clinched the Bangladesh Premier League title in style, as they dismantled Rajshahi Kings to win by 56 runs in front of a full house in Mirpur. This is the third triumph for a Dhaka franchise in four BPLs, with the Gladiators having won in the 2012 and 2013 editions.

It was also sweet revenge for Dhaka who were beaten by Rajshahi in both their league games earlier in the tournament. Rajshahi, one of two new franchises this season, were left dejected after having made a late dash into the final by beating Chittagong Vikings and Khulna Titans in the playoffs.

While they would be proud of their overall campaign, their top order left the middle and lower order too much to do in the final, as they collapsed from 62-1 to 98-8, losing seven wickets for 36 runs as they tried to chase down 160. They were eventually bowled out for 103 in 17.4 overs. Rajshahi's chase was hence dependent on Samit Patel, James Franklin and Darren Sammy, but the big-hitting trio fell in three consecutive overs when it mattered the most.

Kumar Sangakkara won the Man of the Match Award and Mahmudullah won the Man of the Series Award.