Impact sub Mitch Marsh has lived up to the billing as his second-straight half-century since his return from a back injury helped him enjoy some IPL bragging rights over fellow Australia captain Pat Cummins.
The national T20 skipper, back in brutal business again after his injury-hit summer, cracked 52 off 31 balls once he had been subbed in by Lucknow Super Giants to ignite their reply while chasing 191 to win at Hyderabad.
On the way, he had doubtless enjoyed scything Cummins around for three thunderous boundaries only for his Test skipper to get him in the end, caught at long-on when he took one liberty too many.
Yet for the Sunrisers’ inspirational leader Cummins, that was as good as it got, as Marsh’s innings, albeit a mere support act to Nicholas Pooran’s blistering, season-quickest 18-ball half-century, helped rocket the Justin Langer-coached Super Giants to their first win of the campaign by five wickets.
Marsh had blasted a 21-ball half-century in his first match for two months in Lucknow’s opener. This one, off 29, wasn’t quite so explosive, even if seven fours and two sixes might suggest otherwise.
But it was a disappointing conclusion for Cummins, who’d had a pretty good game himself in front of his adoring Hyderabad fan club.
Asked to bat, his Hyderabad side had been given its usual soaring lift-off by Cummins’ trusty compatriot Travis Head, with his 47 off 28 balls, including three sixes, having been given a helping hand by the destructive opener being dropped twice.
Then after player-of-the-match Shardul Thakur (4-34) began to dismantle his powerful top-order, getting rid of danger men Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan in successive balls, Cummins helped drag his side to 9-190 with a manic four-ball cameo of 18 – three sixes in three balls, then out caught on the fourth.
For seamer Thakur, it’s all turning into a bit of a triumph after he’d gone unsold at the IPL auction. Langer grabbed him as a late replacement for the injured Mohsin Khan last weekend and he now leads the race for the ‘Purple Cap’ for most wickets with six.
Asked if he thought he’d be playing in the IPL this season, India Test player Thakur admitted: “Honestly, no … I also planned to play county cricket if I was not picked.
As Pooran powered the chase, Cummins showed some encouraging pace and fire with the ball as he eventually trapped him lbw for 70 off 26 balls – the Trinidadian’s knock featured six sixes – and ended up with fine figures of 2-29 amid the carnage.
Adam Zampa, introduced in place of Head as Cummins’ impact sub, had a harder time, being swatted for 19 by the rampant Pooran in his first over, recovering well to dismiss Ayush Badoni in the next, before ending up with 1-46 off his four overs.
Going at 11.5 runs an over can’t have satisfied a world-class performer like Zampa, but it now seems just about par for the course amid the ever-crazier IPL batting mayhem when 190 represents a sub-par day out.
© AAP
