Rashid Khan's 5-17 and a pair of half-centuries from Will Jacks and Nicholas Pooran powered MI London to a staggering 45-run victory over Manchester Super Giants at the Oval.
Aiden Markram won the toss and inserted the hosts, only to be treated by serious ball-striking from Jacks and later, Pooran (52 off 28); both clobbering 10 sixes together as MI London blasted 183 runs.
Jacks (62 off 31) scored his third straight 50, feasting on the pace of Gus Atkinson (0-50) and Sonny Baker (0-40), while Pooran ensured Noor Ahmad or Liam Dawson never settled.
Markram found his feet for the first time this season with a blistering 26-ball 50, but no respectable contribution from anywhere else meant that MSG never looked like coming close to four points on the evening.
Check out the scorecard from MI London vs Manchester Super Giants.
Rashid Khan signs off with a five-fer
And that was because of Rashid Khan. MSG were 59 for no loss with 30 balls bowled when the Afghanistan spinner was introduced.
He took no time to make a mark, clean bowling Tim Seifert as he looked to heave a good length googly into the stands over cow corner. It once again took very little to trap MSG's crisis man Jos Buttler for the seventh time in T20s or the the Hundred.
After Markram fell, Rashid smelled blood, knocking the stuffing out of the visitors with the wickets of Heinrich Klaasen, Tom Moores and Liam Dawson to complete his maiden five-wicket haul in the Hundred.
He left the perfect parting gift for MI London before leaving for international duty.
"I’ve enjoyed it a lot. Every year I come here, I usually play half of The Hundred, but national duty always comes first. I’ve had a great time over the last two or three weeks. I’m heading back tonight to Ireland for the ODI series, and it will be nice to go there with some confidence after taking a five-for. Hopefully it will help me in those games as well," conceded Rashid.
Sam Curran recognizes the spin code
It wasn't as straightforward for the home team before Rashid's introduction.
Markram and Seifert were off the blocks quickly, cashing in on the shiny Oval surface under lights. Then, Sam Curran, who himself didn't bowl, brought on the ever-reliable Nathan Sowter inside the powerplay.
The leggie was denied an immediate breakthrough when a diving Curran failed to cling on to a powerfully struck drive from Markram at mid-off.
Sowter eventually returned to trap his man, and while Rashid was working his magic, he quietly finished with 1-23. Curran also snuck a set in from Jacks, who tidily complemented his spin partners on an evening where all of Trent Boult, Tom Curran and Richard Gleeson went at over 1.6 per ball.
Together, the spinners' figures read 45-14-44-6, remarkably highlighting why MI London were able to climb to second place on the table.
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What next for both teams?
MI London will take the short trip north of the river to face-off against London Spirit in the derby next, while the Super Giants welcome a bright Welsh Fire side to Manchester on Wednesday, 5th August.
