Usman Khan's Explosive Century Leads Chittagong Kings to First BPL Win

Chittagong Kings' Pakistani opener, Usman Khan, smashed the first century of this year's BPL, scoring a sensational 123 runs off 62 balls. His blistering innings powered the Kings to a daunting total of 219/5, setting a target of 220 for Durbar Rajshahi, the highest in this BPL season. Despite their best efforts, Rajshahi could only manage 114 runs in response, handing Chittagong a comfortable 105-run victory and their first win of the tournament.

Usman Khan’s destructive innings formed the backbone of Chittagong’s innings, where they set a record for the highest team total of the season. His partnership with Graham Clark was crucial, as they added 120 runs off 63 balls for the second wicket. However, Clark fell for 40 runs off 25 balls, but Usman continued to dominate. Captain Mohammad Mithun supported him with a quick-fire 28 off 15 balls before departing.

Usman reached his century, marking the first of the season and his second in BPL history. He was eventually dismissed by Rajshahi’s Taskin Ahmed, finishing with 13 fours and 6 sixes in his innings. Taskin was the top wicket-taker for Rajshahi with 2 wickets.

Chasing down the massive target of 220, Rajshahi faced early setbacks. They lost opener Sabbir Hossain in the first over to Shariful Islam. Despite a brief 32-run cameo from Mohammad Haris off 15 balls, Rajshahi struggled, losing wickets at regular intervals. Enamul Haque Vijay, who had scored two fifties in the previous matches, fell cheaply for just 8 runs.

By the end of the powerplay, Rajshahi were 58/3, and despite a valiant effort from Akbar Ali, who was dismissed for 26 by Arafat Sunny, the target remained out of reach. In the end, Rajshahi limped to just 114 runs, losing by 105 runs.

Chittagong’s spin duo, Arafat Sunny and Alis Al Islam, were the heroes with the ball, claiming 3 wickets each. The pace attack, led by Shariful Islam and Mohammad Wasim Jr, shared the remaining 4 wickets.

With this win, Chittagong Kings have set a strong foundation for their campaign, while Durbar Rajshahi will need to regroup after this heavy defeat.