Subrayen and Rossouw power Kings to SA20 victory over Giants

Prenelan Subrayen returned to haunt his former team, Durban’s Super Giants, with an inspired new-ball spell before Rilee Rossouw rode his luck with the bat to drive the Joburg Super Kings to a second consecutive Betway SA20.

The Super Kings cruised past the Super Giants’ paltry 86 all out with six wickets to spare within 12.2 overs at Kingsmead on Tuesday night to earn the visitors a bonus point and propel them into second place behind leaders Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

Captain Faf du Plessis’ tactics to open the bowling with Subrayen (3/16) proved to be an inspired choice, with the off-spinner ripping through the much-vaunted Super Giants top order.

First to depart was the in-form Devon Conway in Subrayen’s opening over before Kane Williamson and Jos Buttler followed within the powerplay to leave the Super Giants reeling at 21/3.

Du Plessis had a further ace up his sleeve when he replaced wicketkeeper Donovan Ferreira behind the stumps with Matthew de Villiers. Ferreira was thrown the ball and the part-time off-spinner made an immediate impact when he had the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen caught at short mid-wicket.

The Super Giants’ innings faltered, with captain Aiden Markram (22 off 27 balls) not able to resuscitate his team’s innings on his own as seamer Richard Gleeson ran through the tail with remarkable figures of 3/2.

The Kingsmead home crowd’s mood was lifted when Super Kings lost openers Du Plessis and De Villiers with only 19 runs on the board. They may have had more belief that the Super Giants could deliver a stunning comeback when the visitors slumped to 24/3 after Wiaan Mulder was caught in the deep.

However, Super Giants’ catching let them down at critical moments, with Rossouw afforded two lives on eight and 16 when the left-hander was dropped by Williamson and Evan Jones, respectively.

Rossouw made the most of his charmed life by crushing five boundaries and six to power his way to 43, taking the Super Kings to the brink of victory before Ferreira (12 not out off four balls) delivered the coup de grace.