Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) skipper Faf Du Plessis wreaked havoc with a spellbinding century in Joburg Super Kings' emphatic run-chase against Durban Super Giants in a SA20 match on Tuesday (January 24).
Riding on the 38-year-old Du Plessis' rollicking 58-ball 113, Super Kings toppled Super Giants by eight wickets to move eight points clear of the losing side in the points table.
Chasing a challenging total of 178/6, Super Kings captain Du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks' stitched together a huge 157-run partnership for the opening wicket to keep Super Giants' bowlers searching for wickets. While Du Plessis' innings was decorated with eight boundaries and as many maximums at a stunning strike rate of 194.82, Hendricks played a perfect second fiddle with 45 off 46 before getting dismissed by Reece Topley.
Joburg's innings looked a bit slugging when they needed runs at the rate of almost nine per over. After the end of 13 overs the yellow army posted 97 for no loss on the board and had a herculean task of scoring more 82 runs in the next seven overs. But the skipper led from the front as he waited for the right moment and unleashed the beast in him in the fifteenth over bowled by Hardus Viljoen in which Du Plessis slapped three sixes on the trot and garnered 21 runs to shift the momentum once again to his side.
This wasn't all as the former South African skipper and opening partner Hendricks again looted 21 runs in the following over, this time mostly by Hedricks. However, Hendricks 46-ball knock came to an end but till then he had played his part to steady the Joburg's boat. Meanwhile, it was Faf's third T20 hundred in the last 12 months.
Earlier, Joburg Super Kings won the toss & elected to field and the Giants innings was back and forth, from ducks to half centuries but some quality bowling from Maheesh Theekshana (3/30) and Gerald Coetzee (3/21) stood out as the pick of the bowlers for Joburg, with Heinrich Klaasen (65) top scoring for the Giants, smashing seven Fours on his way to a half century. In support, Kyle Mayers, Matthew Breetzke and Jason Holder chipped in 28 each, enough to see Super Giants to a defendable 178, putting the pressure on the Super Kings batters.
Here's the video..
