Roy's 84* hands Chennai Braves thrilling win; Perera, bowlers star in NY Strikers' comfortable win
Written by I Dig SportsNew York Strikers 103 for 2 (Perera 50*, Waseem 41) beat Bangla Tigers 101 for 7 (Cox 38, Karunaratne 3-22, Jawadullah 2-21) by eight wickets
Having been put in, Tigers lost opener Chris Lynn third ball of the innings to left-arm quick Muhammad Jawadullah. Kusal Mendis then joined Jordan Cox to plunder 59 runs off the next 24 balls before Jawadullah struck again in the fifth over to remove the latter. In the next over, Sunil Narine had Mendis caught at deep midwicket. Tigers' innings never took off after that, as Chamika Karunaratne and Akeal Hosein struck to restrict them to 101 for 7.
In return, Strikers lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz early, but Muhammad Waseem and Perera struck a strong partnership, making 58 runs together off 28 deliveries. Benny Howell removed Waseem in the seventh over for the breakthrough, but Perera launched him for 4, 6, 4 in the same over to take Strikers closer to win. With 11 runs needed off 18 balls, Perera then hit a four off the first ball of the eighth over and then launched a six fourth ball to hand Strikers a comfortable win.
Chennai Braves 115 for 4 (Roy 84*, Pretorius 2-21, Mills 1-19) beat Team Abu Dhabi 111 for 4 (du Plooy 47*, Ingram 20*, Cook 1-13) by four runs
But Abu Dhabi couldn't keep pace with the run chase during the middle overs, leaving themselves with another 61 to get from the final four overs. That is when du Plooy and Ingram joined hands. Although they took 32 off the next two overs, Sam Cook allowed just seven runs in the ninth to leave Abu Dhabi with 22 required in the final over. Eventually, du Plooy cracked 47 not out off just 18 balls, but missed the final delivery as Braves scraped through.
Delhi Bulls 122 for 1 (de Kock 50*, Charles 36, Powell 31*, Wood 1-7) beat Deccan Gladiators 120 for 2 (Kohler-Cadmore 42, Fletcher 34, Naveen 1-28) by nine wickets
Powell finished unbeaten on 31 off only 12 balls, smashing five fours and a six on the way, after Charles fell for 36 from 13 deliveries, with as many fours but one more six. Those rapid cameos all but sidelined de Kock's innings of 50 not out - his strike rate of 192 felt pretty inferior to that of Charles' 276 and Powell's 258 - and put the efforts of Gladiators' batters in vain.