Riding on Marco Jansen's fiery knock Sunrisers Eastern Cape earned a thrilling victory over MI Cape Town in the SA20 league match on Wednesday (January 18).
Having lost half of their side at 100 while chasing 172, Jansen rekindled hope for Sunrisers with a 27-ball 66 to make the impossible possible and snatched a win from the jaws of defeat. The star speedster Jansen turned batter displayed his hard-hitting abilities during his cracking knock which was decorated with three boundaries and seven sixes.
But hogged more eyeballs was a nasty incident which took place during the game.
One of Jansen's boundaries off Sam Curran went straight to the deep mid-wicket corner which saw two fielders running after the ball in pursuit to save it from clearing the fence. In the process, one of the fielders collided with Pakistani woman journalist Zainab Abbas, sending her tumbling to the ground. Zainab had been interviewing a member of the coaching staff at the time of the incident at the boundary. However fortunately, she quickly rose to her feet and confirmed that she was unharmed.
Here's the video…
Later, the journalist took to Twitter to write,“I’ve survived, but now I know how it feels! get that ice pack out ..,” Abbas tweeted after the match.
Abbas is part of a star-studded panel consisting of presenters and commentators for SA20 2023.
Jansen, who was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 4.20 for the upcoming Indian Premier League edition, unleashed the beast in him to pummel Rashid Khan left, right and center and turned the needle in Eastern Cape's favour. Enroute to his stormy knock, he whacked Rashid for 28 runs in an over which saw four big sixes and a boundary to leave the star Afghani spinner in all sorts of bother.
While chasing 172, Sunrisers were teetering at 105/6 after 15 overs. Then came the Jansen who understood the need accelerate wile facing one of the best bowlers of the T20 format Rashid. He went berserk and started the over with a cracking six to bring down the equation to 61 runs off 29 deliveries. Jansen then followed it up with a boundary and back-to-back maximums. Rashid did manage to make a comeback in the fifth delivery which was a dot ball but to only see Jansen hit another big one. The lanky bowling allrounder hammered 27-ball 66 which was decorated with three boundaries and seven sixes as Sunrisers Eastern Cape clinched the issue with three balls to spare.
Meanwhile, Sunrisers also improved in the points table. After losing two games in a row against Pretoria Capitals, the Sunrisers bagged two consecutive wins against MI Cape Town within three days. Interestingly, both their games ended in the final over, but the Aiden Markram-led side emerged victorious on both occasions. The Sunrisers will now look to continue their winning momentum, and aim for a win against Paarl Royals in the upcoming contest of the tournament which is scheduled to take place on January 19, Thursday.
