Shanaka picks four wickets in final over as Orcas defend 121/9

Dasun Shanaka was tasked with defending 10 runs off the final four deliveries. He earned Seattle Orcas a nine-run victory as he went W W W W to sink Texas Super Kings.

The Knight Riders Cricket Field in Pomona was once again hostile towards batters as the Orcas managed to defend their paltry 121/9. The game, across both teams, had excellent bowling spells – Amshi de Silva went 3-15, Adam Milne conceded just 10 runs in four overs for two wickets; In the second innings, Ottneil Baartman bowled a maiden, picked three wickets and gave away only 9 runs.

On an evening of bowling joys all around, Shanaka stood out, first with a hat-trick and then a fourth wicket off the fourth ball. The eventful fixture culminated in TSK needing 15 runs off the last over. Shubham Ranjane, the top-scorer of the game, started it with a four and a single, handing over to Donnovan Ferreira. Shanaka knocked his stumps back with a leg-cutter. Next came Calvin Savage. Shanaka dished out another cutter. Savage got bat to ball, but only as far as Shimron Hetmyer at long-on. Adam Milne arrived needing to score in two balls what he conceded in four overs. Shanaka went cutter again and Milne nicked it behind, leading to the hat-trick. Amshi then miscued a big shot when the game was already lost, and Hetmyer ran in from long-on to complete the catch.

Batters were tentative all game as TSK inserted Orcas in and triggered a collapse. Tim Seifert, Matthew Breetzke and Shayan Jehangir were all sent packing inside the Powerplay. Hetmyer and Ali Sheikh stopped the bleeding, but only as far as the ninth over when another collapse ensued. Abhimanyu Lamba dismissed Ali Sheikh, pushing Orcas down to 44/4. That soon became 70/7 in the 13th over. Harmeet Singh and Cameron Gannon made a watchful 31-run stand to take the team just past 100. Lower-order contributions, including Shanaka's 16, dragged Orcas to 121/9.

TSK flew for the first two overs of the chase as Faf du Plessis took charge. But Baartman pegged the veteran back by dismissing him and his opening partner Saiteja Mukkamalla in the third over. Jasdeep Singh then took Rilee Rossouw in the final over of the Powerplay, which TSK ended on 35/3. Shubham Ranjane and Wiaan Mulder dragged their side to 50/3 at the halfway stage. But Baartman returned to dismiss Mulder and see out a wicket-maiden. Dian Forrester kept Ranjane company as they slowly ate into the target but the asking rate climbed. A fantastic review from Seifert brought the break in partnership as Stoinis had Forrester caught behind.

TSK went into the death overs with Ranjane still battling, needing 49 off five overs. Shanaka conceded nine but Baartman gave away just three to finish with incredible figures of 3-9. 37 off three overs became 28 off 2. Ferreira then swung momentum back by finishing the penultimate over with a four and a six. 15 off 6 was still gettable, until TSK batters tripped up against Shanaka's excellent variations.

Brief Scores: Seattle Orcas 121/9 in 20 overs (Cameron Gannon 20; Amshi de Silva 3-15, Adam Milne 2-10) beat Texas Super Kings 112/9 in 20 overs (Shubham Ranjane 40; Dasun Shanaka 4-26, Ottneil Baartman 3-9) by 9 runs