Durban’s Super Giants kept their hopes alive on Saturday with a convincing 58-run win over the high-flying Paarl Royals, though their play-off dreams might be short-lived as the race for the SA20 knockout stages heats up.
The Super Giants earned their third victory of the campaign in their last round-robin match at Kingsmead, climbing to fourth place in the standings, but they needed multiple other results to go their way over the next few days.
And they could be knocked out of the competition as soon as Saturday night if the Joburg Super Kings beat the Pretoria Capitals in their clash at the Wanderers.
For at least a few hours, however, the Durban side were temporarily safe after romping to a dominant win over the Royals.
Markram shines for home team
After losing the toss and being sent in to bat, the Super Giants were anchored by captain Aiden Markram in front of their home crowd.
Markram bashed 108 runs off just 58 balls at the top of the order, hitting the second T20 century of his career as he guided his team to 189/7.
While fast bowler Hardus Viljoen did well to spearhead the Royals attack, taking 4/21, Markram was well backed by the Super Giants middle-order as they compiled a solid total for their bowlers to defend.
In response, the Paarl outfit were restricted to 131/9, led by Bjorn Fortuin who hit 35 not out down the order.
Six of the Durban side’s bowlers grabbed wickets as they combined well, led by former West Indies spinner Sunil Narine who took 2/18.
Royals remain top of table
While the Super Giants would have been relieved to give their fans some hope, the Royals were still sitting pretty at the top of the standings despite the defeat.
Having already qualified for the knockouts, the Royals had one more match in the round-robin stage (against the Super Kings in Paarl on Monday) to secure a top-two spot in the table which would allow them to avoid the eliminator knockout match and progress directly to the qualifier play-offs.
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