If you wanted to see how diverse Twenty20 games get, you should have got yourself a ticket to the double-header in Mohali on Friday. First the Barbados Tridents and Cape Cobras played out a Super Over thriller, after which Kings XI Punjab walloped Northern Knights by 120 runs - the biggest win in six seasons of the CLT20 - to storm into the semi-finals.
Kings XI lived up to their billing as a bunch of power-hitters as batsman after batsman clouted boundary after boundary to run up a total of 215. The openers Manan Vohra and Virender Sehwag set the tone with a high-octane 102-run stand, with David Miller rounding off the innings with an 18-ball 40. Knights' biggest strength was their new-ball opening pair, but Trent Boult and Tim Southee had combined figures of 8-0-93-0 on the day.
In the face of a massive target, Knights' batting rolled over for 95. Only someone desperate to "take the positive out of it" would point to it being a marginal improvement over the 92 Knights folded for in their previous game. Knights captain Daniel Flynn was more forthright, "We got found out today," was his assessment.
At no stage of the game were Kings XI second best. Ever since he got his chance midway through the IPL season, Vohra has shown he isn't fazed by the quality of the opposition bowlers, backing his made-for-Twenty20 batting. Today was no different, as he began with successive boundaries in the first over against Boult. Southee also got the treatment in the fifth over, with three fours, as Vohra outpaced Sehwag and Kings XI's run-rate never dipped below 10.
Sehwag revealed he had promised to give Vohra one of his bats if the 21-year-old hit a century. Vohra was zooming towards the mark, with consecutive sixes off Ish Sodhi taking him to 65 as early as the ninth over. The third ball was short, and seemed set to go over the rope once more, but Vohra picked out deep midwicket. After the game, Sehwag hoped Vohra would get the bat next match.
There was a brief lull after that wicket, but Sehwag powered on to his half-century before Miller took over. He caned Scott Styris for 19 in the penultimate over to bring up the 200 as Kings XI showed that even with Glenn Maxwell, Thisara Perera and George Bailey only making small contributions they could still post a mammoth total. "We ticked off the KPIs (key performance indicators) as a batting group," Bailey said.
Knights never looked like they had the necessary firepower for the chase, even with the inclusion of an extra batsman in Daniel Harris. What slim chances they had began even slimmer, once Kane Williamson departed attempting a ramp shot, and Anton Devcich holed out attempting a reverse-sweep. Maxwell's direct hit caught out the experienced Styris, before the spinners took over on a surface providing them a little help.
Legspinner Karanveer Singh picked up four as Knights' lower order keeled over without a fight, leaving them with a horrendous net run-rate which virtually rules them out of the semi-final race.
Barbados Tridents 174 for 8 (Cartner 111*) tied with Cape Cobras 174 for 5 (Amla 59, Mendis 4-27) Cape Cobras won the one-over eliminator
It was the second time Jonathan Carter was sprawled on his knees in Mohali. He hammered his bat into the turf and flung his head down in agony. The Cape Cobras were lined up beside him, having broken free from their celebratory hugs, to pat his back.
Carter had bludgeoned his way to a maiden T20 century, but his team-mates toppled around him. Still Barbados Tridents had managed a total of 174. Their bowlers rallied to enforce a Super Over and it was down to Carter again with four needed of the last ball.
A last ball that was a full toss. A full toss bowled by little-known offspinner Sybrand Engelbrecht. But when Carter needed his power the most, it was nowhere to be found as an inside edge dribbled away behind the keeper and Barbados Tridents had lost.
While he was swallowed in grief, Cobras' dressing room erupted. Had they lost this game, they would have been out of the CLT20.
There were seven single-figure scores strewn amid Carter's effort. The Tridents suffered two early jolts and their run-rate was below six by the end of the Powerplay. That lack of foundation meant every bottom-handed bludgeon from Carter was highly necessary.
Many times, he looked set to swing himself off his feet, the bat swirling back towards the base of his spine during the follow through. The straight boundary received significant attention, as he razed 58 of his runs in the V, including all five of his sixes. He gave the run-rate a much needed boost. He offset the loss of a few late wickets, and his unbeaten 111 was nearly 64% of the Tridents' eventual 174 for 8.
However, the desperation he showed with the bat took a long while to match. Cape Cobras had the luxury of a Richard Levi blitz as a precursor to a Hashim Amla fifty that was dragging the match away. Tridents needed a stranglehold with the required rate a manageable 8.33 in the final six overs.
Jeevan Mendis' canny leg spin provided just that. Three wickets across eight of his deliveries, followed by a stellar 19th over from Ravi Rampaul complicated the chase enough to push the match into a Super Over. That penultimate over cost only five runs and primed Rampaul to the responsibility of bowling that Super Over.
The burden suited Rampaul well, as he rarely erred in finding the leg-stump yorker during the Super Over. There of them hit their marks, but Levi and Dane Vilas managed to string together 11 runs.
The responsibility of defending that fell on Engelbrecht. Cobras had decided pace off the ball was their best chance. But offspinner Dane Piedt was injured and Robin Peterson's left-arm spin can often be a lottery. So Engelbrecht, who's acclaim as a fielder outstrips his skills with the ball, was tossed the ball. Carter managed a flat-batted thump to the long-off boundary that had Dilshan Munaweera, who's 42 was the next best effort in their innings, skipping. Tridents needed seven from four.
However, Engelbrecht kept bowling slow. He kept forcing the batsmen to reach outside off and finally stymied Carter on leg stump to steal the game. Something he enjoyed quite a bit considering the way he took off running. It was the first Super Over game he was involved in. It was the first Super Over he has ever bowled. It was a gamble from acting captain Vilas. It worked.
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