The in-form Texas Super Kings captain Faf du Plessis captain scored 91 runs in the Major League Cricket (MLC) 2025 encounter against Seattle Orcas. Du Plessis retired out before the final over of the innings, missing a chance to score his third century of the MLC 2025 season and ninth of his T20 career. After the win, he said that he retired out to give a chance to Donovan Ferreira to hit big against Cameron Gannon.
"Donovan has been hitting the ball so well, his six-hitting capability has been so good. I know it was a trickier wicket than the other wickets but I felt his power could give us a little bit more," Du Plessis said in the post-match presentation as Texas Super Kings won the match by 51 runs.
Du Plessis said that he could have cleared the ropes but backed Ferreira to take the score past 200. He feels that retiring out is a tactical move that makes sense to him. He also became the first batter to retire out in 90s in a T20 match.
"I could still hit one or two sixes of course, but I backed him to put us another 10-15 runs above what the score that we got. I am a big fan of it (retiring out). The game is becoming very tactical in that sense," the former South Africa captain said.
However, the strategy did not work for Texas Super Kings. Gannon conceded just seven runs in the final over and knocked over Ferreira who scored just three runs from as many deliveries.
Despite no boundary being scored in the last over, Texas Super Kings posted 188/4 on the board, the highest total this season at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida.
How Texas Super Kings can play in MLC 2025 Qualifier 1
Texas Super Kings are currently at the top of the MLC 2025 points table with seven wins from 10 games. If San Francisco Unicorns beat Los Angeles Knight Riders and Washington Freedom beat MI New York in their last league stage game, they will take on each other in Qualifier 1. However, if either of them lose, Texas Super Kings will play Qualifier 1.