South African batter Leus du Plooy, who was surprisingly not a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 auction, played an important role in eliminating MI Cape Town from the inaugural SA20 after helping Joburg Super Kings to a comfortable 76-run victory in Johannesburg on Monday, February 6.
Du Plooy was actually the saviour of his side after openers Faf du Plessis and Reeza Hendricks were dismissed for ducks. He went on a rampage on the MI bowlers, scoring 81 runs in 48 balls at a strike rate of 168.75. Having stabilised his team's innings, he remained unbeaten till the very end, as Joburg went on to score 189 runs for six wickets.
In response, the side from Cape Town were dismissed for just 113 runs. Kyle Simmons and Gerald Coetzee took three wickets each to ensure that the Super Kings finished the day in second position on the points table.
The 28-year-old du Plooy was a relatively unknown commodity heading into the ongoing SA20 season, but he came with a
blossoming reputation after performing in The Hundred as well. But given his power-hitting prowess, the left-handed middle-order batter was one of the surprise omissions from the IPL 2023 auction list.
In eight matches in the league, du Plooy has scored 249 runs, the second-highest for his team after du Plessis's 369.
MI Cape Town had a bright start after grabbing three wickets in the Powerplay via George Linde (1/16) and Sam Curran (2/26). Super Kings captain Du Plessis was dismissed with the first delivery itself, courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by MI captain Rashid Khan. But then the bowlers faltered, and failed to keep du Plooy and Matthew Wade (40 off 18) in check.
Meanwhile, for MI, only Rassie van der Dussen made 20, while Grant Roelofsen scored only 21. Dewald Brevis tried to revive their innings but the prowess of Simmons and Coetzee hurt their chances massively.
Maheesh Theekshana was equally impressive with figures of 2/16 as MI Cape Town folded for 113 all out.
The Super Kings are in second position with 27 points — equal to that of the table-topping Pretoria Capitals who have a superior net run rate.
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