Posted by Faf du Plessis returned to form in the SA20 series at a crucial moment when Joburg Super Kings needed him most as his side helped MI Cape Town boost their play-off chances. The Super Kings and MI were fighting for the last playoff spot before this match and the men in yellow gave themselves a huge chance with this huge win in a rain-limited match that also gave them a bonus.
Rassie van der Dussen took 16 off 18 balls for MI when they batted first and that ensured the batting side managed just 43 in the powerplay, although Ryan Rickelton got going at the other end. After six overs, the rain started and the restart was delayed by a frustrating three hours. That forced the game into eight overs, forcing MI to rethink their plans. To make matters worse, Liam Livingstone was at the other end after the restart and Kieron Pollard took some crucial boundaries to add to the score.
After Imran Tahir removed Rickelton in the same over, Pollard gave MI a huge boost in the final over of the innings when he hit David Wiese for three sixes to take his side to 80/3. The revised target meant that Super Kings needed 98 from eight overs and Du Plessis was in focus for the challenge, having been in poor form during the tournament.
Leus du Plooy gave the Super Kings a great start when he hit the first two balls of the chase over the ropes as Nuwan Suchhara scored an opening 18. Du Plessis then played Kagiso Rabada as a stunned MI Super Kings fell in 18 more balls. . 36 runs from the first two overs.
Du Plessis again takes Rabada with boundaries and six hat-tricks. The two openers showed real intent when the rain arrived. Raced against time by the rain, Du Plessis was in a hurry to wrap things up and did so in style with an unbeaten 20-ball 50. At the other end, Du Plooy smashed an unbeaten 41 from just 14 as the Super Kings did the job astonishingly in less than six overs .
Brief Score: MI Cape Town 80/3 (Kieron Pollard 33; Imran Tahir 2/13) lost in 8 overs to Joburg Super Kings 98/0 in 5.4 overs (Faf du Plessis 50, Leus du Plooy 41*) by 10 wickets (DLS method).