MAJOR LEAGUE CRICKET, 2025
The in-form San Francisco Unicorns will be eyeing a hat-trick © MLC
San Francisco Unicorns could not have asked for a better start to the 2025 season. They comprehensively beat the defending champions by 123 runs in their first game and followed it up with a comfortable victory against Los Angeles Knight Riders, and scored 200-plus totals in the process in both games. MI New York, on the other hand, narrowly fell short against their rivals Texas Super Kings, having failed to score nine runs in the last over.
The Unicorns have a power-packed batting lineup with three internationals – Tim Seifert, Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk – taking the top three spots. Allen has already scored over 200 runs in the tournament in merely two innings while Fraser-McGurk seemed to have finally found some form since IPL 2024 with a match-winning 88 in the last game. Youngsters Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Hassan Khan have also chipped in with valuable cameos while Haris Rauf and Xavier Bartlett have seven and four wickets to their name respectively.
Despite the first game defeat, MINY will not be too fazed having fallen short only at the final hurdle. Monank Patel scored a valuable 62 while powerful all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Michael Bracewell chipped in with valiant 30s. But a concern for the MINY would be their openers, both of them were back in the hut within 15 runs against TSK and Quinton de Kock’s form has continued to be heading downwards since his international retirement with another single-digit score. The bowlers did well to restrict TSK to 185 for 6 on a batting friendly wicket but they will hope the entire batting order clicks together.
When: SFU vs MINY, Sunday, June 15 at 6:00 PM Local Time
Where: Oakland Coliseum, California
What to expect:San Francisco Unicorns have scored 200-plus totals in both of their games so far, including a 269 in the tournament opener. The venue has been a batting paradise so far with scores above 180 consistently scored and is expected to continue.
Team news:
San Francisco Unicorns: With two comprehensive wins on the bounce, the Unicorns are likely to stick with the same team.
Probable XI: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Cooper Connolly, Corey Anderson (c), Hassan Khan, Liam Plunkett, Xavier Bartlett, Brody Couch, Haris Rauf
MI New York: Sunny Patel could make way for Nosthush Kenjige but the MINY would look to give the rest of their XI another go before making any changes.
Probable XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Monank Patel, Nicholas Pooran (c), Agni Chopra, Michael Bracewell, Kieron Pollard, Tajinder Dhillon, Nosthush Kenjige, Ehsan Adil, Naveen-ul-Haq, Trent Boult
© Cricbuzz
