Put in to bat first, the Royals had a shaky start as they lost both their openers with just 18 runs on board. Wihan Lubbe (28) and Corbin Bosch (20) powered PR to a fighting total of 127 for the loss of seven wickets. Meanwhile, Sunriser’s skipper Aiden Markram and pacer Brydon Carse grabbed two wickets each for their team.
In reply, SEC easily chased down the set target in 18.2 overs and won the contest by five wickets. Jordan Hermann (43) and captain Markram (23) shined for the Sunrisers in their victory. For his all-round performance, Markram was adjudged ‘Player of the Match.
Bjorn Frotuin (3 wickets) and Lungi Ngidi (2 wickets) bowled well for PR, but their efforts went in vain as they ended up on the losing side. The two wickets Ngidi picked up came off two consecutive deliveries.
On the fourth ball of the 3rd over, Ngidi gave Royals their first breakthrough and dismissed dangerous-looking Adam Rossington, who was batting at 20 off just 11 deliveries. The 26-year-old pacer bowled a length ball around off-side, which Rossington tried to smack over the leg side but ended up getting an inside edge and got cleaned up.
Next, Ngidi bowled a slower and straighter delivery to the newly arrived Sarwel Erwee, which the left-handed batter failed to defend, and the ball went past the outside edge to knock over the off stump. Ngidi was seen pumped up after picking up two in two. However, he couldn’t grab a hat trick.
Here’s the video:
After the win, the SEC moved up to the second spot in the points table, while PR slipped to the fourth spot in the tally.
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