AB de Villiers' 50-ball ton wipes out Dhaka Dynamites

The Rangpur Riders runaway train whistled past Dhaka Dynamites at breakneck speed in a thumping eight-wicket win with 10 balls to spare. AB de Villiers and Alex Hales were joint conductors during a rollicking 184-run partnership, the highest of BPL 2019. De Villiers, who had simmered in his first two innings of BPL 2019, finally exploded for a 50-ball unbeaten century, while Hales clubbed 85 not out off 53 balls, including the winning runs.

Rangpur's rampaging Powerplay, which they ended on 63, made the Dynamites effort look tame by comparison, especially considering that the Dynamites took until their 21st ball to score a boundary after having chosen to bat first. The early crawl cost them on a batting paradise that produced two centuries on the day, first from the bat of Evin Lewis of Comilla Victorians in the afternoon's first game, before de Villiers capped off the night with his match-winning ton for the Riders.

Turning points

De Villiers showed why he's a modern great with a typically audacious counterattack. He didn't flinch in hooking Russell first up, and never looked back thereafter. He took 24 balls to reach his half-century, and another 26 to reach three figures in a chanceless effort, all while the Chattogram crowd chanted "A-B! A-B!"

Perhaps sensing the need to have a big finish on a flat pitch, Dynamites allrounder Kieron Pollard decided before the start of the 20th over that he would face everything. While he hit two boundaries against Shafiul Islam, he also turned down three singles, before chipping a yorker for one off the innings' last ball, failing to provide the desired boom at the end of the Dynamites innings.

Riders moved into a three-way tie for first place on 12 points with Comilla Victorians and Chittagong Vikings, though Riders hold the edge over both on net run rate. Dynamites remain tied for fourth with Rajshahi Kings on 10 points, but Dynamites have a game in hand as well as a massive net run rate advantage.