Twitter Reactions: Jozi Stars knock themselves out of the tournament with suicidal batting after heroics from AB de Villiers

On yet another occasion this season, the Jozi Stars have allowed the game to slip away from their hands. They should have defeated the Tshwane Spartans but have themselves to blame for this poor application. AB de Villiers showed his class with a wonderful knock and was well assisted by Pite van Biljon. Tom Curran and Morne Morkel picked up three wickets each to drastically bring the Spartans back into this game.

Theunis de Bruyn bagged an 8-ball duck while the in-form Dean Elgar could just get 18 runs. The plan to promote Roelof van der Merwe up the order failed as he only scored 5 from 12 balls. Even skipper Heinrich Klaasen fell early. At this stage, AB de Villiers and Pite van Biljon came to the rescue. The former South Africa cricketer, with his knock, made his fans relive the good, old days. He scored 53 off 33 balls in an innings that included two sixes. Biljon, on the other hand, got out after mustering 45 from 29 balls. The Tshwane Spartans, in their 20 overs, got to 155/6.

The efforts of Chris Gayle go in vain

Even though the Jozi Stars lost Reeza Hendricks early, Chris Gayle didn’t let his foot off the pedal. With Temba Bavuma playing the second fiddle, he went all out. The Jamaican raced his way to a 27-ball 54 before Tom Curran got him. Yet, courtesy his knock, the team scored 65 runs in the powerplay. When Temba Bavuma got out for 35 in the 13th over, the score was 113/3. With 7 overs left, the Jozi Stars hardly had to score around 40 runs. There began the suicidal batting from the other batsmen.

Rassie van der Dussen and Daniel Christian scored 20 and 17 runs respectively at almost run-a-ball. At 127/4 in the 15th over, the team was still in a decent position. But within the next three overs, the team got bowled out for 135 runs. The fans were absolutely disappointed with this effort and lashed out at the Jozi Stars players. They felt that they should have easily won this one. AB de Villiers’ fans, however, were delighted to watch him do so well.

Here is how Twitterati reacted: