SA20: Centurion Aiden Markram lifts Durban's Super Giants back into playoff race

Aiden Markram blazed the second SA20 century of his career to keep Durban’s Super Giants’ season alive.

The Proteas T20 captain showed he is the man for the big occasion, flexing his biceps by smashing 108 off 58 balls (12x4, 5x6) with DSG’s season on the line. The Super Giants’ 189/7 proved too much for Paarl Royals, with the home team cruising to a bonus-point 58-run victory.



Defeat for the Super Giants would have seen Lance Klusener’s team eliminated. Instead, they will now watch Joburg Super Kings’ match later this afternoon against Pretoria Capitals with bated breath, as a JSK win will bring an end to DSG’s playoff chances.

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But for now, they will celebrate an audacious Markram innings. The skipper has taken time to settle into his new surroundings at Kingsmead after moving from Sunrisers Eastern Cape, but here he delivered a batting exhibition of the highest calibre.

The match was evenly poised when DSG were 53/3 after 7.2 overs, with all three of their big overseas signings, Sunil Narine, Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson, back in the hut.

It was therefore left to Markram and Heinrich Klaasen to resurrect the innings with an 81-run partnership off just 48 balls. Klaasen (29 off 21 balls) does not often play second fiddle, but he could only look on in awe as Markram unleashed a power-hitting display of the highest order.

Standing tall in the crease, Markram bludgeoned the ball straight down the ground for a flurry of boundaries. He made Royals rue dropping him in the deep on 79 off the bowling of Ottneil Baartman.

Markram’s takedown of Royals’ ace all-rounder Sikandar Raza was particularly telling. Raza (0/57) has been one of the standout performers of SA20 Season 4, but on Saturday afternoon at Kingsmead, he met his match.

Markram plundered 28 runs, including three sixes and two boundaries, in Raza’s penultimate over of the innings. In the process, he brought up his second T20 century to the great appreciation of the Kingsmead crowd.

Even Hardus Viljoen’s excellent career-best figures of 4/21 could not halt DSG’s momentum.

Super Giants carried the momentum into their bowling effort as the Royals wilted in Durban’s intense heat and humidity.

Royals failed to contend with the high-quality spin of Super Giants duo Sunil Narine (2/18) and Simon Harmer (1/13). The spin twins combined to deliver eight superb overs, conceding just 31 runs and picking up three wickets.

The result was inevitable from the moment Royals slumped to 68/8, with the Super Giants eventually restricting the visitors to 131/9 to earn the home side a lifeline, with their fate to be decided later this afternoon at the Wanderers.

Brief Scores Durban's Super Giants: 189 for 7 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 108; Hardus Viljoen 4/21)
Paarl Royals: 131 for 9 in 20 overs (Bjorn Fortuin 35 not out; Sunil Narine 2/18, Geralnd Coetzee 2/31)


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