DHAKA DROP THE BALL

Dhaka cannot say that they were knocked out by a flawless performance from Rangpur Riders. Yes, it was every team's nightmare that Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum would set up camp and toy with the bowlers, but Dhaka had a chance to dismiss both before much damage had been done.

In the sixth over, on 22, Gayle spooned Mosaddek Hossain straight to extra cover where Dhaka skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who usually has the safest of hands, dropped a straightforward chance. As if he needed reminding of the terrible error he had committed, Gayle hit the very next ball for his second six and the last ball for his third. 15 more followed.

Although McCullum was nowhere near as destructive as his West Indian partner, he also got a life but unlike Shakib's spill, it wasn't surprising given the overall catching standards of the tournament. In the 15th over, McCullum on 27 skied a pull off Abu Hider and the way the bowler ran after it, it was obvious that the catch would not be completed. And it wasn't.

MASH ONE-UPS SHAKIB (ONE-RUN OVER AND THE CATCH OF LEWIS)

It would not have been wide of the mark to bill this match as a face-off between Shakib Al Hasan, the country's most accomplished and decorated cricketer, and Bangladesh's most beloved cricketer, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Although yesterday was basically all about Gayle's criminally awesome hitting, fans of Mashrafe will know that he won the battle of captains hands down, but for a while it was close. Before Shakib turned villain by dropping Gayle on 22, he bowled a phenomenal first over, constructing a maiden while dismissing Johnson Charles.

Mashrafe also took a wicket in his first over, that of Mehedi Maruf, but did give away one run more than Shakib. However, the Narail Express came up trumps when, in the fourth over he ran back towards the midwicket fence and completed a superbly judged catch to dismiss Evin Lewis, Dhaka's equivalent of Gayle.

THE UNDERTAKER FROM JAMAICA

A huge roar went up when it was time for the last over of BPL 2017. Not because it was ending, no. It was because the man given the ball by Rangpur Riders skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, with 60 runs needed, was none other than the Universe Boss himself.

Gayle may well have earned himself yet another nickname, because at the start of the over, he did the throat-cut gesture made famous by WWE superstar The Undertaker. It will fit him well because, given his batting yesterday, Gayle is no less dangerous than the man from Death Valley.