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Cricket PlayersWatch: Faf du Plessis almost walks away to deceive bowler, then hits outrageous scoop for a six in CPL 2022
Du Plessis helped his side set the highest team total with a blazing hundred, but his effort went in vain as the Warriors rode on Shai Hope's unbeaten 59 to claim their second straight win in the T20 tournament.
Saint Lucia Kings captain Faf du Plessis notched up his fourth T20 century as he hit 103 off 59 balls against Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2022 on Thursday night. Du Plessis helped his side set the highest team total with a blazing hundred, but his effort went in vain as the Warriors rode on Shai Hope's unbeaten 59 to claim their second straight win in the tournament.
Kings won the toss and opted to bat first and du Plessis led the way with a magnificent ton, decorated with 10 fours and 6 sixes. The right-handed batter even produced a bizarre scoop shot to outwit bowler Odean Smith and clear the boundary fence with ease. Off a free hit in the 6th over, du Plessis shuffled across and paddled it over the long leg. Prior to the six, he dropped his guard for a bit, hinting that he was going to walk away sideways while the bowler was running in.
Du Plessis reached his ton in the 16th over as he hit Imran Tahir for a six over the sight-screen. It was the South African's fourth T20 hundred and second in the Caribbean T20 tournament. Apart from him, David Wiese's 6-ball 12 and Roston Chase's 17* from 7 balls drove Kings to a strong 194 for 5.
Warriors in response got off to a brisk start with Rahmanullah Gurbaz bringing up his half-century and adding 81 runs with opening partner Charndrapal Hemraj. The fourth wicket pair of Shimron Hetmyer and Hope put on a fifty partnership and their side was left with 40 runs to get in the last four overs.
Hope smashed Roshon Primus for three consecutive sixes before the Warriors completed the chase with four balls to spare. Hope finished with an unbeaten 30-ball 59.
"Feels good to get out there and do what I love, which is batting. Missed a few games early on. We had self-belief, we wanted to stick to our plans and were confident of chasing them off. It's just about doing what the team requires, batting to a plan and I needed to up the strike rate, so that's what I did. I never played in front of such a great crowd, hopefully, we can get them more wins," Hope, the Player of the Match, said after the game.
Du Plessis said, "It was a nice pitch, there was dew so the ball skid a bit in the second half. I thought we had a good score but we weren't okay with the ball and also not great in the field. It was slippery due to the dew but still. We have one more game left, a win gives us a top-two spot but a loss could even push us out. We know it's tight out there."
