PRETORIA CAPITALS’ CAPTAIN PARNELL MAKES SPARKLING IPL RETURN

Wayne Parnell made a spectacular return to the Indian Premier League after a nine-year hiatus on Monday evening at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. 

The Pretoria Capitals captain last played in the IPL back in 2014 for the now defunct Pune Warriors, but was called up to the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad last week for Durban’s Super Giants seamer Reece Topley. The Englishman injured his shoulder in RCB’s opening match. 

Parnell, 33, made an immediate impact on his RCB debut after being drafted into the starting XI against the Lucknow Super Giants. 

The experienced left-arm seamer struck with just his fourth ball when Indian international Deepak Hoonda edged behind to Dinesh Karthik. Two balls later and the Parnell-Karthik combination were in action again when Krunal Pandya was dismissed for a duck. 

Parnell hauled out his trademark ‘Cristiano Ronadlo-style’ celebration to mark his return to the IPL which had partisan home RCB crowd in raptures. His figures after his first over were 2/7.

“I was very excited. Being part of the IPL is obviously special for any cricketer, and to have such a long break, and then to be back playing for RCB, is really special.

“And then obviously playing my first game here for RCB at the Chinnaswamy, was also nice,” Parnell said. 

Unfortunately for Parnell, and RCB, they could not defend their total of 212/2 with the match ending in a thrilling finish, as Lucknow Super Giants edged home by one wicket off the final ball.

Parnell’s first two overs cost just 14 runs, but unfortunately his third went for 17 as he was caught in the midst of Nicholas Pooran’s (62 off 19 balls) onslaught. He did finish strongly, though, as he claimed a third wicket of Ayush Badoni when he forced the batter to tread on his stumps in his fourth over.

Parnell’s overall figures were 3/41, and he later admitted that fine-tuning his skills at the death remain a priority going forward, although he was happy to be picking up wickets upfront with the new ball. 

“It is something that we have to pay attention to,” he said. ”It’s really good for us to keep taking wickets in the Powerplay, that’s a general trend that you want to keep on. And on the  closing out (of matches), it’s still early days. Nothing to panic about, it’s just about resetting and coming out again.”

Faf du Plessis, the Joburg Super Kings captain who also doubles up as the RCB skipper, also had another good night out with the bat as he stroked an undefeated 79 off just 56 balls (5×4, 5×6). 

Du Plessis is now ranked third on the tournament’s overall run-scorers list with 175 runs at an average of 87.50 and strike-rate of 173.26.