The victory turned out to be a walk in the park for Washington, who are yet to be beaten in the tournament.They reached their target of 130 with four overs to spare, thanks to the opening partnership of 79 runs between Travis Head (54) and Steven Smith (42).
The win, however, was set up by Washington bowlers led by Saurabh Netravalkar‘s 4 for 35 and ‘Player of the Match’ Glenn Maxwell‘s 3 for 15, as the duo led the charts to bowl out the Knight Riders for a below par 129. Lockie Ferguson contributed 2 for 31.
Saif Badar (35 off 28 balls) was the top-scorer in the Knight Riders’ batting line-up that saw none of their top or middle -order batsmen playing an impactful knock.
“I was certainly pretty fortunate with the conditions and with Saurabh taking consistent wickets at the top,” said Maxwell at the post-match presentation ceremony. “It’s been amazing how we controlled the bowling innings by taking consistent wickets.”
The win took Washington’s points tally at the top of the table to seven from three wins and a no-result in four matches.
The Knight Riders are in the bottom half of the table at fifth position, tied on three points with MI New York and San Francisco Unicorns but behind both on net run-rate. And while the Knight Riders have played five matches, New York and the Unicorns have played three apiece.
The match also saw a controversial moment in the first over of Washington’s chase when Head was given not out while batting on six as a catch by Andre Russell off Spencer Johnson was ruled not clean after the third umpire took his time to look at various angles. Eventually he ruled it in Head’s favour, believing that the ball had touched the ground.
From thereon, Head stamped his authority on the game, though he survived another chance while batting on 32, when the ball burst through Spencer’s hands at short third-man position.
Head went on to complete his half-century in just 27 balls but fell soon after when paceman Shadley van Schalkwyk pegged the Australian’s off-stump back.
Rachin Ravindra (11) then added 29 runs with Smith, but the New Zealander fell to Spencer. Smith, however, ensured there were no more hiccups and took his team home.
“I’m absolutely loving not having a bat, nice to give the body a bit of a break. Smith is doing a great job as a leader and he is doing well at the top with the bat,” Maxwell said about his captain’s knock.
