Texas Super Kings 161 for 8 (Ferreira 45, Du Plessis 40, Mukkamalla 36, Mudassar 2-30, Couch 2-42) beat San Francisco Unicorns 139 (Short 28, De Silva 4-28, Lamba 2-22, Milne 2-29) by 22 runs
There were two individual scores in the 40s, both for Super Kings, and none of the Unicorns batters crossed 28. But 18 wickets fell as exactly 200 runs were scored, with de Silva’s 4 for 28 the best individual return and four other quick bowlers picked up two wickets apiece.
Asked to bat first, Super Kings got to what looked like a modest total of 161 for 8. They started strongly, with Faf du Plessis and Saiteja Mukkamalla putting on 72 in just under eight overs. That set the platform Super Kings needed, but they were 96 for 5 in the 13th over.
Enter Donovan Ferreira, and the complexion of the innings and, in hindsight, the game changed.
Ferreira put on 40 in 27 balls with Wiaan Mulder, who contributed four runs in eight balls in the sixth-wicket partnership while Ferreira scored 34 in 19. There was no significant partnership after that, but Ferreira’s 45 in 28 balls – he hit four of the ten sixes in the innings – carried Super Kings to a total that eventually proved much more than enough.
There was almost no resistance from the Unicorns batters. The best partnership was the one for the second wicket between Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Matt Short, worth just 22 in 12 balls. De Silva had already sent back Finn Allen before that, in the third over, and then got two in the fifth of the innings, those of Pretorius and Connor Esterhuizen. Unicorns did have the runs, ending the powerplay with 53, but had lost three wickets in that time. In comparison, Super Kings had been 48 for no loss.
And it only got worse for Unicorns after the powerplay, with Abhimanyu Lamba taking charge and leaving the scorecard reading 115 for 8 after 15 overs.
There was no chance of a comeback from there, and though Brody Couch, who had earlier returned 2 for 42, put on stands of 25 in 14 balls and 20 in 13 balls with Hammad Azam and Peter Siddle respectively, it was all over when Adam Milne came back to finish the innings off.
The result left Super Kings at No. 2 on the table with two wins from four games, behind Los Angeles Knight Riders, who have two wins in two games. Unicorns, meanwhile, are one off the bottom in fifth place with one win in three games.
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