MLC 2025
Noor Ahmad returned figures of 4 for 25 © MLC
After having picked up a nervy win over MI New York, Texas Super Kings made it two in two in MLC 2025 following a resounding win over LA Knight Riders on Sunday (June 15) in California. It was a collective effort with both bat and ball as they beat LAKR comfortably by 57 runs.
After being asked to bat first, TSK did get off to a jittery start with Faf du Plessis failing to impress again. Batting on 2 off 8 at one point, he did try to make amends with a six, but Andre Russell struck back with a perfect yorker to rattle the stumps immediately off the very next ball. Saiteja Mukkamalla’s cameo, which saw him clear the ropes twice, was extremely vital in the powerplay revival for TSK. Devon Conway finished the phase with a couple of boundaries too.
Conway, who hit a fifty in the first game, looked in very good touch yet again, racing to 34 off just 21 at one point before finding the fielder at long off. No one really kicked on to get a big score for the batting side as they all got starts and then kept departing. Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 36 was ironically the top score despite the New Zealand batter struggling throughout his innings. Batting on 13 off 18 at one point, Mitchell redeemed himself to an extent with a couple of boundaries in an over before needing a six off a scoop shot against Russell to take his strike rate beyond 100 in the final over.
With Mitchell struggling, TSK would have struggled to breach 170 if not for Donovan Ferreira’s vital cameo right at the death. Walking in with less than five overs to go, Ferreira smashed an unbeaten 32 off just 16 deliveries that ensured TSK posted a competitive total on the board. They backed it up with a perfect start with the ball when Adam Milne trapped Andre Fletcher plumb in front very early in the chase. Alex Hales tried to inject some momentum with successive sixes, but he perished soon after, and then Noor Ahmad rounded off the powerplay with Nitish Kumar’s wicket.
Suddenly, a target of 182 appeared steep by the end of the powerplay. Things went from bad to worse real quick as Stephen Wiig struck again, having already removed Hales earlier. Any hopes LAKR would have had to turn this around in the second half came crumbling down when TSK picked three key wickets in the space of seven deliveries. First, Mitchell’s golden arm came to the fore again as Unmukt Chand saw his stumps get rearranged with the ball keeping low. And then in the next over, Noor fetched the two biggest wickets in the LAKR lineup as both Russell and Sunil Narine mistimed shots off back-to-back deliveries to gift the Afghan two more wickets.
At 74/7, there was simply no way back for the chasing side with more than 100 to get. The tail wagged enough to get them past 120 before Milne put an end to LAKR’s misery with almost three overs to go in the innings. The impressive Noor finished with a four-wicket haul.
Brief scores: Texas Super Kings 181/4 in 20 overs (Daryl Mitchell 36*, Devon Conway 34; Tanveer Sangha 2/32) beat Los Angeles Knight Riders 124 in 17.1 overs (Shadley van Schalkwyk 27; Noor Ahmad 4/25, Adam Milne 2/8) by 57 runs
© Cricbuzz
