(ESPNCRICINFO) – On a slow surface, favouring spinners who held their pace and lengths back, Joburg Super Kings emerged victorious in a low-scoring encounter against Durban’s Super Giants. Prenelan Subrayen’s 3 for 16 featured 15 dot balls, and made all the difference as Super Giants were bowled out for 86.
Super Kings read the pitch early, and began with a two-pronged spin attack in the powerplay: Subrayen and Akeal Hosein combined to keep a tight grip on the opening overs. The fielding restrictions were made almost irrelevant with batters struggling to time anything off a good length, as the ball lost pace and dipped in their trajectory once they landed on the pitch more often than not. Subrayen took out Devon Conway (4) in his first over, Kane Williamson (2) in his second, and Jos Buttler (12) in his third.
Super Giants ended the powerplay on 23 for 3, and the going only got worse for them thereon. Aiden Markram provided the most significant resistance through the middle overs, scoring 22 off 27 in an innings where the fluency never kicked in. Just as he might have shifted gears, Faf du Plessis took the first of two agile catches: he intercepted a skewed shot off Markram’s bat from wide long off in the 12th over, falling over in his follow-through.
In the next over, Ethan Bosch edged a ball off Hosein, and du Plessis was at short cover to complete the catch once again. Super Giants were reduced to 62 for 6. Richard Gleeson came into the attack, scalping up two wickets in the 16th over, and Noor Ahmad’s cut to backward point helped him finish with figures of 3 for 2 in the 18th, to wrap up the innings. All of Super Giants’ ten wickets had fallen via catches.
In response, Simon Harmer extracted equally prodigious turn with the new ball for Super Giants. He prised out Wiaan Mulder with a leading edge off the bottom of his bat, and went for just nine runs in his three powerplay overs. Super Kings ended on 26 for 3 after their first six overs, and the game looked poised for a close finish.
However, Rilee Rossouw read the lines and lengths on a deceptive pitch more astutely than any other batter on the day, aided by Super Giants’ reliance on pace more than their counterparts through the middle overs. He mostly stood deep in his crease and swung through the line in an industrious innings of 43 off 32. There were edges, and a full-blooded French cut, but he had mowed down almost half their target in an innings that featured five fours and one six.
He especially took a liking to Noor Ahmad – also the fastest spinner of the night, which played against him on a surface that favoured slowing the ball down to get it stuck in the surface and spin more. With Shubham Ranjane, he took Ahmad for 16 runs in the 9th over. From there, Super Kings’ chase seemed inevitable