A chase of 243 was reduced to a walk in the park by Rilee Rossouw‘s uncontrolled display of power-hitting, shattering PSL records. Along the process, he advanced the Multan Sultans into the PSL playoffs while also making the joint-fastest fifty in the competition. He then turned it into its quickest hundred, surpassing himself.
Peshawar Zalmi, who are still unsure of their standing in those playoffs, have already dropped two straight games despite scoring 240 or more runs.
They were attacked by Jason Roy a few nights before, and now it was Rossouw’s turn as the South African batting dynamo smashed eight sixes and 12 fours to manage the second-highest chase in T20 history with five balls to spare.
In his innings, Rossouw’s biggest gap between scores was six balls. All five of his initial scoring shots were fours or sixes. And he carried on. He had a fifty by the time he had faced 17 deliveries. He only completed two of them. T-w-o.
One of South Africa’s biggest and brightest players had been removed from the spotlight by that diversion into England county cricket via Kolpak. Yet, he’s back now with stats that are hardly credible.
He has kept up an average over 30 and a strike rate over 140 over 297 T20s. Other individuals who have achieved it include Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, David Warner, and AB de Villiers.
A solid supporting group was at Rossouw’s disposal. With 52 from just 24 balls, Pollard contributed. The foundation of this chase was their third-wicket partnership, which they built on a score of 99 off 43 balls.
Abbas Afridi, a 21-year-old seamer, recorded 4 for 39 during the Sultans’ earlier bowling innings. He just conceded eight runs while taking three of them wickets in the span of nine deliveries. That was notable in a game where two goals were scored for each ball played.
Similarly, the fifties of Saim Ayub (58 off 33) and Babar Azam (73 off 39) were. The two Zalmi openers were tremendously seamless at the beginning of the game, laying such a solid foundation that they were able to continue striking despite the speed bumps that Afridi’s spell had placed in their path.
They would have been fairly satisfied with their efforts at this stage. The rest is now in the past.
Multan Sultans 244 for 6 (Rossouw 121, Pollard 52, Omarzai 2-62) beat Peshawar Zalmi 242 for 6 (Babar 73, Ayub 58, Abbas Afridi 4-39) by four wickets
