Twitter Reactions: Rashid Khan lights up Adelaide Oval on New Year's Eve; Thunder snatch victory from jaws of defeat

Adelaide Strikers locked horns with Sydney Thunder in the 17th match of Big Bash League 2019-20. It turned out to be a roller coaster ride for the fans with Rashid Khan showing his class batting with his camel bat. However, his brilliant knock went to vain as Thunder defeated Strikers by three runs in the final Big Bash League game of the year 2019.

Earlier, Sydney Thunder won the toss and elected to bat but didn’t get off to a good start as they lost their in-form opener, Alex Hales, at a score of 31. The right-handed batsman never looked in the flow and was bowled by Strikers’ tall-heightened fast bowler Billy Stanlake. Later on, Callum Ferguson and Usman Khawaja stitched a brilliant partnership of 71 runs for the third wicket and helped their side in overcoming the early setback.

Ferguson mustered 73 runs off 46 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes followed by the brilliant knock of 63 runs played by Usman Khawaja. But, Strikers failed to finish their innings on a high note due to which they could only post a total of 168 runs at a loss of 5 wickets in stipulated 20 overs. For Adelaide Strikers, Peter Siddle turned out to be the best bowler, who registered brilliant bowling figures of 2/30.

Rashid Khan’s hard work went in vain

Coming to the chase, Strikers got off to a worst possible start as they lost their opener Philip Salt without scoring a single run in second over of the innings. The right-handed batsman tried to make a room and attempted for a boundary over the extra cover off Daniel Sams. But, he didn’t get the elevation right due to which he was caught by Ferguson.

Jake Weatherald from the other end looked in full flow, who smashed Thunder bowlers across the park. He smashed 52 runs off 37 balls with four big sixes and two boundaries before his inning came to a halt. He failed to anticipate the slower delivery bowled by Daniel Sams and chips the ball straight to long-on fielder Chris Green. It was the turning point of the match when Strikers started losing their grip over the match. Alex Carey and Jonathan Wells also got out cheaply as the former scored 19 runs and latter mustered 26.

Rashid Khan played a cameo of 40 runs off 18 balls with three sixes and four boundaries. He took the match to the last over but all the hopes of Strikers were shattered as the Afghanistan all-rounder got run out while stealing a double on the penultimate ball of the last over. In the end, Thunder won the game by a margin of three runs. Callum Ferguson was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock that helped Thunder in grabbing two important points that took them to the number one position on the league table.

Here is how Twitter reacted: