Durban [South Africa], January 17 : Aiden Markram blazed the second SA20 century of his career to keep Durban's Super Giants' season alive.
The Proteas T20 captain showed that he is the man for the big occasion by smashing 108 off 58 balls (12 boundaries, five sixes), with DSG's season on the line. The Super Giants' 189/7 proved too much for the Paarl Royals, with the home team cruising to a bonus-point 58-run victory, as per an SA20 release.
Defeat for Super Giants would have seen Lance Klusener's team eliminated. Instead, they will now watch Joburg Super Kings' ongoing match against Pretoria Capitals with bated breath, for a JSK win will bring a close to DSG's playoff chances.
But for now, they will celebrate an audacious Markram innings. The skipper has taken time to settle into his new surroundings at Kingsmead after moving from Sunrisers Eastern Cape, but here he delivered a batting exhibition of the highest calibre.
The match was evenly poised when DSG were 53/3 after 7.2 overs with all three of their big overseas signings, Sunil Narine, Jos Buttler and Kane Williamson back in the hut.
It was therefore left to Markram and Heinrich Klaasen to resurrect the innings with an 81-run partnership off just 48 balls.
Klaasen (29 off 21 balls) does not often play second fiddle, but he could only look on in awe as Markram unleashed a power-hitting display of the highest order.
Standing tall in the crease, Markram bludgeoned the ball straight down the ground for a flurry of boundaries. He certainly made the Royals rue dropping him in the deep on 79 off the bowling of Ottneil Baartman.
Markram's takedown of Royals' ace all-rounder Sikandar Raza was particularly telling. Raza (0/57) has been one the standout performers of SA20 Season 4, but on Saturday afternoon at Kingsmead, he met his match.
Markram bludgeoned 28 runs, which included three sixes and two boundaries in Raza's penultimate over of the innings. In the process, he brought up the second T20 century of his career to the great appreciation of the Kingsmead crowd.
Even Hardus Viljoen's excellent career-best figures of 4/21 could not halt DSG's momentum.
The four Player of the Match candidates were Bjorn Fortuin, Liam Livingstone, Aiden Markram, and Hardus Viljoen, with the centurion winning 78.8% of the fan vote.
Super Giants carried this through their bowling effort as the Royals wilted in Durban's intense heat and humidity.
The Royals failed to contend with the high-quality spin of the Super Giants duo Sunil Narine (2/18) and Simon Harmer (1/13). The spin twins combined to deliver eight magical overs, conceding a total of 31 runs, and picked up three wickets.
The result was inevitable from the moment the Royals slumped to 68/8 with the Super Giants eventually restricting the visitors to 131/9, which earned the home side a lifeline until later this afternoon when their fate could be decided at the Wanderers.