Ackee and Saltfish and fried dumpling, the real party vibes with Reggae Music in the background, the scent of the grass when the wind had blown, another stellar performance on the other side of sublime ……and Chris Gayle with a century 126 – in Bangladesh today another special moment in time.  

The 34 year old who hails from Rollington Town, and appreciates a cool drink of a coconut jelly from the roadside anywhere in Jamaica would have needed that quencher, as he was  on  fire, almost burning the bat while  guiding  his  team  the  Rangpur Riders  to  an easy  8  wicket  win  over  the  Khulna Titans  in the  first  playoff  match  in the  Bangladesh  T/20  Premier  League.

The Man who goes by the Monicker – ‘Universe Boss’  who has internalized all his tough times and glorious moments was today on top of the world looking down on creation , and the only explanation he could find, was his swashbuckling style which saw him engineered 14  sixes  and  six  fours  on  his  way  to  126  from  51  balls  as  his  team  won  with  28  balls  to  spare.

With the crowd at the stadium shouting for Gayle, it was the perfect moment for him to ‘gwaan wid the road’ . He dispatched each bowler with impunity, or better yet, ‘ him tek it to dem’ Gayle was fearless as well as breathtaking and brought up his century off 45 balls. His 14 sixes is a new BPL record; Gayle bettered his own record of 12 sixes he had hit for Dhaka Gladiators in 2013.

For that he was simply magical, like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow he found his mark……..and  for that he was named Man of the match.

Mohammed  Mithun  supported  Gayle  with  an  unbeaten  30  as  they  rushed  to  victory  at  171 for 2.

The  Titans  had  earlier  scored  167  for  6  from their  20  overs  with  west  Indies  T/20  captain  Carlos  Braithwaite  getting  25  not  out…………Trinidadian  Nicholas  Pooran  contributed  28.

Rangpur will go to the next qualifier, to play  Marlon Samuels  team  Comilla  Victorians  who  lost  by  95  runs  in the  second  playoff  game  today  to  the  Dhaka dynamites.

Dhaka Dynamites  sent  to  bat  chalked  up 191 for  7  from  their  20  overs………Evin  Lewis  got  47 from 32 balls, Kieron  Pollard  hit 31 and  Sunil  Narine  made  9 not  out.

The  second  finalist  will  be  decided  on Sunday  when  Commilla  Victorians face the  Rangpur Riders  at  the  Shere Bangla national stadium in  Mirpur.