Shahid Afridi claimed three wickets to spark surprise win for Renegades

The 32-year-old Pakistan all-rounder, who looked off-colour during last first two games, utilized all of his energies and produced devastating figures of 3-21 to overshadow Chris Gayle’s swashbuckling 54-ball 75 knock as hosts could manage to reach134-7 in pursue of 141-run victory target.

Earlier, riding on brisk knocks from Aaron Finch (41) and Bred Hodge (44) after opting to bat, the visitors had posted a defendable target of 140-8.

Seamers Shaun Tait and Shane Harwood contributed two scalps apiece to terminate Thunder’s two-match winning streak.

Sydney Thunder VS Melbourne Renegades: Hosts were needed 16 in last over

Thunder were needed 16 runs in the last over, bowled by Tait. However Jason Floros and Sean Abbott, the infant duo, were just able to club 10 runs with the help of a couple of boundaries. The lanky speed-merchant plunked the stumps of latter to wrap up the game in a jubilant fashion.

No one can predict that Thunder will loosen their clutches on game until Gayle was in charge but the dismissal of 32-year-old flamboyant West Indies opener, on the second delivery of penultimate took the game away from them. The left-hander served five hefty blows into the crowds and lashed the ball across the rope with bounces thrice before being fell to Harwood caught by Nathan Reardon at boundary line.

Harwood was not just enough on that, he uprooted the stumps of Luke Butterworth (1) two balls later to further consolidate his side’s position.

Gayle got Thunder off a flying start, but with paceman Dirk Nannies produced observable movement to frustrate Cruickshank; their run-rate was gradually slowed-down.

Cruickshank, the legal responsible for boosting the asking-rate, fell to Afridi on the second delivery of eighth over caught by Reardon at gully after scoring 22 from 15 balls, when the scoreboard reading was 59.

The departure of fellow-opener was not mournful for Gayle, and he continued to dominate over the opponent bowlers in the company of Usman Khawaja, who also struggled against the seamers and managed a single boundary in his 22-ball 17 before handing to his old compatriot Afridi his second wicket, caught by Reardon at the same position.

In his subsequent over, Afridi struck again to remove Daniel Smith in with a speculator off-break that zipped away on the right side to cause the batsman’s stump when he was going to hit the ball for a maximum.

Sydney Thunder VS Melbourne Renegades: Visitor openers established 82-run stand

The story of Melbourne innings was largely revolving around the openers Finch and Hodge who laid the firm foundations for visitors by establishing 82-run opening-stand in 10 overs before both fell off spinner Luke Doran.

Finch, whose 35-ball knock was studded with five whopping boundaries and a maximum, spooned a catch to Floros at mid-on before Finch, who managed four fours and a maximum, mistimed a low-pitched delivery and saw his stumps ripped up a ball later.

Though after a quickfire start, plus 150 target was anticipated but Abbott and Butterworth claimed two wickets apiece in the quick succession to evade the visitors from doing so.