Sunrisers Eastern Cape stormed into the finals of the inaugural edition of SA20 by beating Joburg Super Kings in the second semifinal. Sunrisers skipper Aiden Markram smashed a brilliant century and took his team out of pressure. Markram came to bat at no.4 when the Sunrisers were restricted to 10/2 and hammered his maiden T20 ton.
After winning the toss Super Kings skipper Faf du Plessis opted to bowl first in a high-pressure match. Put into bat, Sunrisers’ openers failed to hold their nerves and got out off Lizard Williams. Coming to bat in a pressure situation, Markram displayed his temperament and took his time out of trouble. His first fifty came off 41 balls while the next fifty came in just 16 balls.
Markram, along with Jordan Hermann, added 99 runs for the 3rd wicket before Hermann got out while sneaking a quick single. Hermann, during his innings, scored 48 runs off 36 balls. Along with Markram’s innings and cameos of Tristan Stubbs and Jordan Cox, Sunrisers posted 213/5 in 20 overs. For JSK, Lizard Williams proved to be the best bowler of the match. He took four wickets by giving 36 runs.
Chasing the mountainous 214, Super Kings failed to hold their nerves and were shaken by early strikes. Captain Faf du Plessis got out on the very first ball of the innings while trying to pull Sisanda Mangla for a boundary. He was caught by Hermann at deep square leg. In the next over, pacer Marco Jansen dismissed Leus du Plooy for a duck, restricting JSK at 1/2. However, Reeza Hendricks smashed 96 runs off 54 balls but failed to win the game for the team.
Aiden Markram took the Sunrisers to the finals of the inaugural edition of SA20 with his ton. Sunrisers will lock horns with Wayne Parnell-led Pretoria Capitals at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on February 11.
Twitter reacts to Markram’s maiden T20 ton in SA20
Aiden created a buzz on social media following his knock. A Twitter user also predicted that he will lead the Hyderabad franchise in the upcoming edition of the Indian T20 League.
Here are some tweets:
Aiden Markram scores his first t20 century against the Joburg Super Kings.
Captain leading from the front 🔥#AidenMarkram
Source @Cricketracker— Abhishek Mishra (avsek) (@its_abhishek_02) February 9, 2023
Aiden Markram coming clutchhh….wowee what a knock in big semis 🥹 pic.twitter.com/yb3aYWV3qW
— 🤸 (@NithinWatto_185) February 9, 2023
Henrich Klaseen, Adil Rashid great performance in SA 20 league
Mayank Agarwal great performance in Ranjhi Trophy.
Kaviya Maran is called as beauty with brains. A great combo for Sunrisers. Hope their suns at time pic.twitter.com/XZlgaQKFNs— Sports.world (@moiz_sports) February 9, 2023
No better feeling than performing when it matters the most. Take a bow makram
— Nikhil 🎭 (@nikhil_pandey__) February 9, 2023
Well played markram finals coming
— Leo Messi ABD 🐐×🐐 (@ABDmessitheGOAT) February 9, 2023
Future of south africa 🇿🇦 cricket
— Katib Hangami 🇮🇳 (@HangamiKatib) February 10, 2023
Future captain of @SunRisers it think 60% what's your opinion johns
— Vedang (@vedang_kali) February 9, 2023
Big players stands up in Big moments and AIDEN MARKRAM delivers a Masterclass of T20 batting #SA20League #Markram @SA20_League pic.twitter.com/F9HTwLfvnt
— Reds🔴🏴 (@Charankohli7) February 9, 2023
