MI New York edges by Unicorns to take second MLC eliminator
July 9, 2025 - MI New York wins by 2 wickets
In the wake of yesterday’s washout of the first eliminator in the Cognizant Major League Cricket 2025 Series between the Washington Freedom and the Texas Super Kings due to a damaging storm that came over the Metroplex, the rain had threatened last night’s second eliminator between the San Francisco Unicorns and MI New York, but they were able to get the match in. MI New York would win the coin toss and opted to field.
During the Unicorns powerplay (the first 6 overs) with two wickets already fallen, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, who is a familiar face from the Warehouse Games Ball In Play 3 would go for 5 runs on 7 balls after a bobbling catch by Trent Boult. With four wickets already fallen, a miscommunication would result in in Hassan Khan getting run out on a direct throw by Nicholas Pooran giving Kahn the golden duck. By the end of the powerplay, the Unicorns had already racked up 5 (out of a possible 10) wickets and scored 27 runs.
With seven wickets down, Xavier Bartlett would liven things up going for 44 runs off of 19 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes and a 50 run partnership with Brody Couch. Liam Plunkett would hit out close to the boundary caught by Kieron Pollard to pull the 10th wicket. The Unicorns end their innings with 131 runs and a run rate of 6.83 with 9 extras in 19.1 overs.
In the chase, MI New York has a target of 132 runs. They need to average 6.6 runs per over as light showers fall over Grand Prairie. MI New York would get 37 runs during the powerplay and would stay ahead of the Unicorns the whole way through midway in the 12th over, where during the Unicorns’ 12th over, Xavier Bartlett would nail three sixes and a four. That, along with four extras coming off MI bowler Nosthush Kenjije would give the Unicorns a 27-run spike in that over as shown on this worm diagram:
If you are new to cricket, this diagram is called a “worm”. It tracks the number of runs achieved by each team at similar times during the match. The red dots along each line indicates when the team made a wicket (out).
MI New York would keep a steady pace until it mattered. Trent Boult (remember him from the bobbling catch) would fire the afterburners in the 19th over with two sixes and then in the 20th over and 3 balls in, Nosthush Kenjije would hit in the winning run
MI New York beats the San Francisco Unicorns by 2 wickets. On Friday (July 11), MI New York will take on the Texas Super Kings and the winner of that match will face the Washington Freedom for the championship on July 13.
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