Former T20 World Cup-winning captain Aaron Finch's entertaining unbeaten 31-ball 75 went in vain as Yusuf Pathan's cameo helped New Jersey Legends chase down the total with two balls to spare.
New Jersey skipper Gautam Gambhir won the toss and opted to field first. California got off to a slow start as Jacques Kallis struggled. In the fourth over, Kallis lost his wicket to Christopher Barnwell. Milind Kumar and Finch provided much-needed acceleration to the innings. In the sixth over, Bipul Sharma conceded 16 runs.
Finch shifted gears and hit Liam Plunkett for two consecutive sixes. In the next over, Milind hit a four and a six as well. In the penultimate over, Finch let loose and smashed Barnwell for five sixes in a row. He reached his half-century from just 25 balls. In the final over, not a single boundary was scored. Milind got run out for a 14-ball 17 whereas Irfan Pathan got out off the last ball. Knights posted 116/3 on the board.
New Jersey's run chase got off to a slow start as well. Naman Ojha hit the first six of the innings in the third over. Then Jesse Ruder hit Ashley Nurse for a six in the next over. Sulieman Benn dismissed Ojha who contributed with a 11-ball 25. After five overs, they had 45/1 on the board.
In the next over, Nurse got his revenge and dismissed Ryder who scored 20 runs from 19 balls. Albie Morkel finished the over with a six over long-on. In the next over, Morkel got run out. Barnwell started his knock with a boundary.
In the eighth over, Pathan went berserk like Finch. He hit Krishmar Santokie for four sixes and a four to turn the game upside down. But Pathan got dismissed by Peter Siddle in the penultimate over. His 11-ball 35 included two fours and four sixes. In the final over, Peter Trego took on Benn and hit a six off the third ball. He ended the run chase with a couple of runs off the fourth ball to take New Jersey home.
