For Texas Chargers, who defeated Morrisville Unity by a score of 34 runs, Darren Stevens scored 36 runs off 18 deliveries, and Mohammad Hafeez claimed three crucial wickets. Even though Sreesanth took four wickets, his efforts were ultimately in naught.
Hafeez and Mukhtar Ahmed were both sent packing by Sreesanth in the second over, giving the Chargers a bad start. Despite the early dismissals, skipper Ben Dunk hammered Dane Piedt for a four and a six in the following over.
Corey Anderson completed a wonderful diving catch to bring back Thisara after Piedt broke the 35-run third-wicket stand in the sixth over. Dunk and Thisara Perera alternated strikes steadily to keep the scoreboard moving.
Dunk was unable to maintain his position for long as Piedt’s subsequent straighter pitch rattled his stumps three balls later. With his aggressive play, Darren Stevens gained control of the situation and raised the run rate. He hit Calvin Savage for a six and a four in quick succession in the seventh over, and his partner Upul Tharanga finished the over by slamming a six over long on.
In the following over, the English all-rounder struck two consecutive boundaries off Najaf Shah, and Tharanga added a six off the final delivery. After that, Sreesanth struck back, removing Tharanga and Stevens in the ninth over.
As Fidel Edwards got Parthiv Patel lbw with the first legal ball of the innings after he had begun with a wide, Unity’s pursuit was shaken early on. Chris Gayle was then returned after being caught and bowled by Hafeez in the third over.
By hitting Ehsan Adil three times for four runs and once for six runs in the fourth over, Shehan Jayasuriya kept the Chargers in the hunt. But in the following over, Edwards abruptly left the wicket with a surprise bouncer.
In the sixth, Hafeez added two more runs, leaving Unity needing 62 off the final 24 balls with a score of 48 for 5. Tanvir’s dismissal of Navin Stewart in the seventh over, which had one run, made their task even more challenging.
The chase failed as Corey Anderson struggled to get going and scored at less than a run per ball. Anderson finished the game unbeaten on 16 from 17 balls after hitting the final two balls to the boundary.
California Knights defeated New York Warriors by 15 runs because to quick-fire cameos from Aaron Finch and Ashley Nurse, giving them their second victory of the season. In order to keep the Knights’ hopes of finishing in the top four alive, Finch struck 24 runs off 12 balls and Nurse hammered 22 off nine deliveries.
Finch made the right choice by choosing to bat, as the Knights put up a score above 100. The acting captain hit two boundaries in the second over after finding the fence once in the first. In the third over, he then smacked Abdur Rehman for a six before the Warriors left-arm spinner lashed back and caught Finch at long-on.
Following that, Jacques Kallis assumed control of the score by hitting Dhammika Prasad for a four and a six in the fourth over. However, Prasad got his comeuppance in the following over when Kallis flubbed a big hit attempt.
The next batter was Nurse, who immediately made his plans known by hitting Abdul Razzaq for a six over long-on with the first ball he faced. Before falling lbw to give the former West Indies fast bowler his second wicket, Ricardo Powell joined in on the fun by hitting two consecutive sixes off Jerome Taylor. Warriors still needed 107 runs after Nurse hit two additional sixes, one in each of the final two overs.
Kamran Akmal and TM Dilshan put together 22 runs in the first two overs to get the chase off to a strong start. With Richard Levi being caught in the deep in the fifth over and Akmal being stumped in the third over, Devendra Bishoo managed to turn the situation around despite only giving up 10 runs in those two overs. Warriors were left with 71 runs to score from their final 30 balls after Ben Laughlin bowled a tight fourth over as well.
By adding 43 runs off 24 for the third wicket, Dilshan and Misbah-ul-Haq kept their chances alive. A no-ball from Pawan Suyal was Misbah’s next ball, and he smacked it for six after Dilshan was run out in the penultimate over. When the score was 21 from six balls, Pathan bowled a superb last over, allowing just five runs to be scored.
An outstanding performance with both the bat and the ball enabled Atlanta Riders to defeat New Jersey Triton’s by a whopping 48 runs. At the wrong end of the table, both teams are level on points, but both still have a chance to go to the knockout rounds.
When Riders decided to bat, they lost their top three before reaching the 20-run mark. Triton’s got off to the perfect start when Robin Uthappa was dismissed by Bipul Sharma with the first delivery of the innings. With a fourth-wicket stand of 74 runs off 32 balls, Hamilton Masakadza (43 off 25) and Hammad Azam (38 off 16) then gave the Riders new life.
Before hitting Monty Panesar for a six in the fifth over, Masakadza started off carefully, scoring eight runs off his first ten balls. Hammad struck Peter Trego for three straight sixes in the following over. In the seventh over, he dealt with Panesar identically, hitting him twice for sixes.
Before Trego canceled their exhilarating connection in the final over, the pair continued to frequently hit the fence in the final three overs.
When Gautam Gambhir was dismissed off the first ball of the innings, the Triton’s were already behind in the chase. Gautam Gambhir had previously opened with Uthappa for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The bowler was Kamrul Islam, and in the first over he struck again by convincing Naman Ojha to continue.
In the second over, Harmeet Singh eliminated Jesse Ryder and Cameron Delport, adding two more wickets to the tally. During a brief moment of hesitation, Yusuf Pathan struck Kamrul for two sixes, and Chris Barnwell supported him by hitting two fours in the fourth over.
But in the fifth over, Mohammad Irfan struck out both batsmen, leaving Triton on 36 for 6. Eventually, they were bowled out for 53, and their innings was over in just nine overs.