MLC 2025
San Francisco Unicorns stole a win from the jaws of defeat. © BCCI
Xavier Bartlett’s blazing unbeaten 25-ball 59 powered San Francisco Unicorns to a stunning 3-wicket win over MI New York in California. Reduced to 108 for 6 in the 13th over, Unicorn chased down the 183-run target with five balls to spare handing MINY their second successive loss of the campaign.
Put in to bat, MINY’s innings was powered by Quinton de Kock’s 38-ball 63. Agni Chopra, Monank Patel and Nicholas Pooran failed to make a mark, but de Kock ensured that MINY had a strong foundation in the first half of the innings.
Kieron Pollard smashed four boundaries off Hassan Khan in the 16th over, and Sunny Patel hit three boundaries in the 18th as their brief cameos helped MINY post a competitive total despite some stingy bowling by Haris Rauf in the death overs.
In response, Unicorns got off to a flying start with Finn Allen smoking Trent Boult for a couple of sixes in the opening over of the chase. However, their scoring was tightened soon after. Naveen-ul-Haq dismissed Allen in the second over, and a top-order crumble ensued with Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Cooper Connolly departing cheaply, and by the end of the powerplay, they were reduced to 42 for 4.
Through all this, Tim Seifert struggled to get a move on and struggled to get going, especially against Sunny Patel. However, Hassan’s big hits from the other end ensured Unicorns remained in the hunt. The duo added 64 runs in 31 balls, largely courtesy Hassan’s 17-ball 43, which included 5 sixes. Both the set duo departed soon after, and Corey Anderson wasn’t having it any easier, tottering his way to a 13-ball 9.
However, Bartlett smoked 25 runs in the 15th over off Michael Bracewell, to give the chase some momentum and slowly flip the direction of the contest. Even as Anderson departed, he continued to remain on the offensive, taking down Boult for 16 runs in the 17th over. He completed the chase by depositing Kieron Pollard’s slower delivery for a six over the long on boundary and helped seal Unicorns’ third successive win.
Brief Scores: MI New York 182/7 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 63, Kieron Pollard 30; Haris Rauf 2-24, Hassan Khan 2-54) lost to San Francisco Unicorns 188/7 in 19.1 overs (Xavier Bartlett 59*, Hassan Khan 43; Naveen ul-Haq 2-28, Ehsan Adil 2-43) by 3 wickets
© Cricbuzz
