Texas Super King’s (TSK) South Africans came to the fore as they thumped MI New York (MINY) by 39 runs to qualify for the knockout stage of MLC 2025 Faf du Plessis led the charge with his second century of the season and Donovan Ferreira  provided the firepower at the back end of the innings with a 20-ball 53 to take TSK to 223 for 4. Akeal Hosein then starred with the ball to restrict MINY to 184 for 9 as TSK stayed within two points of the top two teams, with Kieron Pollard’s 39-ball 70 going in vain.

TSK did not get off to a good start as George Linde trapped Smit Patel in front with just three runs on the board. But in the third over, du Plessis hammered 16 runs off Ehsan Adil, including back-to-back sixes.

Du Plessis racked up two sixes each off the next two overs, bowled by Linde and Boult, before Rushil Ugarkar closed out the powerplay with a relatively quiet seven-run sixth over, even as du Plessis brought up a 21-ball half-century.

MINY ramped up the pressure, conceding just one boundary from the next four overs, a period that also saw Saiteja Mukkamalla hole out at deep midwicket off Linde.

Du Plessis – who scored 11 runs off 12 balls after reaching his fifty – helped swing the momentum, with two more sixes off Linde’s final over. Marcus Stoinis then fell to Ugarkar as MINY looked to slow TSK down, but du Plessis and Ferreira had other ideas.

Du Plessis pulled Pollard for a six over midwicket before Ferreira drove him for a couple of fours. Du Plessis then picked up a boundary off Boult to set up a thrilling last three overs that saw TSK rack up 56 runs.

Ferreira tore into Adil for 20 runs off the 18th over before du Plessis reached his century with a swivel-pull off Boult, even as the penultimate over only cost eight runs. He began the final over with two sixes before Ugarkar equalled Shardul Thakur’s unwanted record of most consecutive wides in a T20, bowling five on the trot. The third legal delivery of the over also went for six as Ferreira brought up the joint-fastest fifty in MLC history.

MINY had a tentative start to the chase and soon Nandre Burger picked up the big early wicket of Nicholas Pooran, who opened the innings. Hosein then bowled a wicket-maiden in the powerplay to put MINY under further pressure. He then dismissed de Kock and Tajinder Singh in consecutive overs to complete a masterful spell and leave MINY on 75 for 4 in the 11th over.

The late assault from Pollard came a little too late, even as he thrashed Noor Ahmad for three consecutive sixes in the 14th over, followed by a boundary thanks to Mukkamalla letting the ball slip out of his hands and over the rope after he collected it at long-off and was trying to throw it back to the middle.

The next three overs brought 37 runs, but a brilliant effort from Ferreira at long-off broke the 88-run stand.

By the time Burger cleaned up Pollard in the penultimate over, the chase was already out of MINY’s hands.

Brief scores:
Texas Super Kings 223 for 4 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 103*, Saiteja Mukkamalla 25, Donovan Ferreira 53; George Linde 2-42, Rushil Ugarkar 2-47) beat MI New York 184 for 9 in 20 overs (Kieron Pollard 70, Quinton de Kock 35,Tajinder Singh 15, Michaell Bracewell 26;  Akeal Hosein 3-15, Nandre Burger 2-40, Marcus Stoinis 2-43) by 39 runs

[Cricinfo]