MLC 2025
Shubham Ranjane scored 70 in his team’s win © Sportzpics
Texas Super Kings returned to winning ways with a clinical performance that saw them brush aside LA Knight Riders by 52 runs. Even though chasing sides have done well in Dallas this season on what’s been a high-scoring venue, LAKR stuttered in the run chase of 197 right from the start as they eventually ended up with just 144/7.
Opting to bowl first, LAKR actually made a top start even though Faf du Plessis began by smashing three boundaries off the first four balls he faced. The in-form skipper couldn’t carry on though as he found the fielder at deep backward square. Shadley van Schalkwyk, who made the breakthrough, then went on to hurt the Super Kings further when Saiteja Mukkamalla and Marcus Stoinis departed off consecutive deliveries to leave TSK reeling at 33/3.
Shubham Ranjane then rounded off the powerplay with a couple of boundaries and had a rebuilding job ahead of him. With Smit Patel not teeing off, Ranjane took the mantle upon himself to find the boundary regularly. When Smit finally found some momentum with a couple of boundaries, he couldn’t keep going as Andre Russell came up with a timely strike. But Ranjane then found an able partner in Donovan Ferreira as the duo laid into the LAKR attack at the death.
Van Schalkwyk’s figures were ruined when Ranjane and Ferreira combined to hit him for three sixes in his final over. Ferreira’s whirlwind 43 came to an end courtesy of a run out and in the same over, Ranjane’s leg stump was uprooted by Ali Khan as he departed for an excellent 70. Losing both the set batters in the penultimate over ensured TSK didn’t go past 200 but given the start LAKR made, it was evident that the men in yellow already had enough.
Akeal Hosein, playing his first game of the season, made an immediate impact with the new ball as he picked two wickets off two balls. While Unmukt Chand and Saif Badar did hit a lot of boundaries, the number of dot balls eventually had a say. Badar edged one behind to give Stoinis his first wicket and Ferreira struck first ball to castle Chand. By the time Noor Ahmad castled Sherfane Rutherford to bring out Russell, the equation already appeared daunting. To make matters worse, Russell had a nightmarish stay out in the middle and was sent packing by Noor in his final over as the chase just completely fizzled out with the batting side surrendering in meek fashion.
Brief scores: Texas Super Kings 196/8 in 20 overs (Shubham Ranjane 70, Donovan Ferreira 43*; Andre Russell 3/37) beat LA Knight Riders 144/7 in 20 overs (Unmukt Chand 30; Akeal Hosein 2/10, Noor Ahmad 2/27) by 52 runs
© Cricbuzz
