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There were contrasting fortunes for the Proteas duo Faf du Plessis and Lungi Ngidi As the Super Kings of Chennai fell to Royals of Rajasthan on Tuesday in a match that produced a record 33 six in the Twenty20 tournament.
Steve Smith, who faced concussion fears going into the IPL, established a key 121-run partnership on second ground with Sanju Samson, who broke 74, to guide the Royals to 216/7 batting first and a 16-win. races over Chennai in Sharjah. .
Du Plessis led the Chenna chase in response and made a brave 72 of 37 balls with seven sixes, but Chennai, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, finished 200/6 in 20 overs.
Chennai participated in another six hit festival against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2018 edition which also saw 33 sixes.
Australian Smith opened innings for the Royals, inaugural winners of the IPL in 2008, and after the loss of the first wicket it rained six with Samson hitting nine of them on his 32-ball blitz.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to hit with him. He’s the best hitter in the world,” said Samson, who hit 50 on just 19 balls and hit nine sixes on his hit.
“And when he comes out and hits 20 overs, it becomes easy for everyone else to come in.”
Smith had four hits over the fence and Jofra Archer hit four in the final to help the Royals score 30 runs from fast South African Ngidi.
In that final finale, Ngidi had been hit at one point by 27 two-ball runs when Archer hit him for four sixes in a row, two of them without balls, before Ngidi followed with a wide.
“They hit really well. Steve and Sanju. You have to give their players credit too,” said Dhoni, who was undefeated at 29, after the loss.
Smith passed a concussion test in the United Arab Emirates when he joined their IPL team after missing three one-day games in England following a hit to the helmet during practice.
The long-delayed IPL, which was originally scheduled to start in March, was moved from India due to the coronavirus pandemic and is played behind closed doors.
But Jay Shah, secretary of the Cricket Control Board in India, said the popular league had the highest opening day audience for any sports league around the world when 200 million people tuned in to watch Chennai beat Indians of Mumbai on September 19.
