Mrityunjay Chowdhury’s ball was pulled by Sunil Narine with a long on six. He set a new record in the shot. Reaching 50 off just 13 balls, the batsman of Comilla Victorians became the owner of the fastest half century in the history of BPL. It is also the fastest half century record in Bangladesh. Narain took the storm in the second qualifier of BPL against Mirpur in Chittagong against Chittagong Challengers. This is the second fastest half-century in the history of the recognized T20.
Five people have scored half-centuries in the recognized T20, playing 13 or fewer balls before Narine.
Marcus Trescothick against Hampshire for 13 balls and Mirza Ahsan against Austria for Luxembourg. India’s Yuvraj Singh (against England), Chris Gayle of Melbourne (against Adelaide) and Hazratullah Zazai (against Balkh) of Kabul are jointly at the top of the list with 12 balls to spare.
Chasing 146 runs, Comilla had a bad start. Liton Das caught Shariful Islam’s first ball. However, he started the storm by hitting six off the third ball of the over. He hit Shariful 2 more fours in that over.
Mehedi Hasan Miraj came in the next over. At one point in Narain’s cannon, Mirage could not find a place to throw the ball. Imrul Kayes struck out Narain with a single off the first ball. Narine hit 1 four with 3 sixes in the next 4 balls. Narine hit boundaries with long-off and cover.
Comilla lifted 43 runs in the first 2 overs. This is the highest score of any team in the first 2 overs of BPL. In the next 2 overs, however, Narine did not get a strike. Imrul played 12 balls alone. However, the Caribbean all-rounder hit Afif four and six off the first two balls after getting a strike in the fifth over.
At the end of the fifth over, Narine’s run was 48 off 12 balls. He got a strike in the last over of the powerplay, hitting Mrityunjay with a long-on in the first over and hitting six to complete his half-century. After hitting Mrityunjay with another four after one ball, however, the left-hander picked up the catch and returned. Earlier he made 57 runs from 18 balls, hit 6 sixes with 5 fours.
Narine batted at a strike rate of 356.25. This is the highest strike rate in an innings in which he has scored at least 50 runs in BPL. The previous record was held by Thisara Perera. Perera, who played for Comilla in the 64-run innings off 26 balls against the Chittagong Vikings in 2019, had a strike rate of 264.61.
Comilla also set a record on the day of Narain’s record. They have scored 74 runs for 2 wickets in Powerplay. This is the highest score in Powerplay in the history of BPL. Earlier in 2019, Khulna Tigers scored 83 runs against Rangpur Rangers.