END OF OVER:20 | 9 Runs | LAKR: 136/4 (7 runs required, RR: 6.80)
- Andre Russell9 (6b)
- Jason Holder2 (2b)
- Ehsan Adil1-0-9-0
- Kieron Pollard2-0-12-1
And with today's victory, MI New York maintains their hopes of making the playoffs by moving up to fourth place in the standings. All eyes are on the contest between the Seattle Orcas and the Texas Super Kings, especially among New York fans. Signing goodbye on behalf of Chandan Duorah and Rashad. Good night.
Nicholas Pooran: "All praise to Jesus, it's good to be on the other side today. We had a couple of tough losses, but we're really happy we could get over the line today. [Pressure before the must-win game] When you come here to Miami, every game is a must-win game for us, but we keep speaking about belief in a team, just trying to be better each and every day. At this point in the tournament, we've lost some players, and it has been challenging for us, so all we're trying to do is just to have some fun, embrace the moment, and if it's your day, try to take it. [Franchise history] I mean, I always tell people, you need to be a part of the franchise to actually understand. We want to win every game. We want to win every tournament. And we have that belief; regardless of whether you are at the bottom of the table or top of the table, we feel like we have a chance of winning the tournament, and even coming into today's game, we lost the toss. Everybody wants to bat second. When I got out there, I felt like 150 was a good enough run. I was saying that if you get 150, we'll win the game. We fell short of it. But the way the guys went out and felt, Nosh [Kenjige] with that run out, tight bowling from George [Linde] in the Powerplay. Boult was exceptional, and we just believe. We felt like in this KKR franchise here, they were under some pressure with their batting as well. We felt like if we could stay in the game, anything is possible."
Most Valuable Player, Kieron Pollard: "[What was your thought when you first went to bat?] What a good wicket this is [laughter]. This was a no, obviously. We were under some pressure. They've lost a couple of wickets. They've lost our captain, the guys who have been scoring runs for us at the top of the inning. So for me personally, it was just a matter of digging deep and trying to see how much of runs that we can actually put on the board to give our bowlers something to defend. [Half century number 63] A hell of a lot [of experience]. 703 games, coaching as well. And something I've been sort of talking to some of the guys. They asked me in terms of how I came out and consistently tried to do it. I think coaching has also helped me a lot, because it's something that you try to ingrain in the heads of the guys that you speak to, and then when you get the opportunity to go on the cricket field, you have to try to emulate what you say to ensure that you know it's working. So again, it has helped me, especially in the back end of my career, and I'm just trying to continue to pass on that knowledge and experience to the guys in the dressing room. [Bowling] I was in the 19th over. I just looked at it as whatever can happen at this point in time. But before that, I've been bowling some important overs for the team, and it's just a matter of trying to use the dimensions of the ground, use the surfaces, and understand what the batsman is going to do. So, I try to think like a batsman while I'm bowling, so a little bit of thought goes into it. As I've always said over a period of time, I don't have pace, I don't have bounce, I don't have seam, and I don't know swing, but I've played enough cricket just to see if I can put the ball in the right area. And lastly, to the Caribbean people who came out and supported us over the last couple of days, there is one more day to go; keep supporting us. Thank you very much."
Jason Holder: "Excellent job. I thought the bowlers did a hell of a job to restrict them to 142. It was a manageable total. And I just didn't think we batted well enough. [Retiring out Unmukt Chand] We obviously needed to get ahead. We were really behind. This pitch is a tough pitch to start on. And I think when we were struggling at the end of this innings, struggling to find a boundary, struggling to find a little bit of momentum, we thought of the last stage, just to try to get one of our hitters in for the last over to try to get the ball over the ground. Tough season. It's been a tough season for us. We've put ourselves in some really good positions, but haven't been quite able to get across the line. We've just got to take ownership as players. we've got to assess responsibility and look for ways to improve, coming back next year, but as I said before, I think we've got a lot of positive things to look back on. But we also need to do a lot of work."
6:55 pm Well, it's tough news for the Los Angeles Knight Riders. For the third season in a row, they've crashed out of the Playoffs. This also means they remain the only team in MLC history never to have reached the Playoffs. Their innings started with a bang... but not the good kind. A disastrous miscommunication between the batters in just the second over led to the early loss of Andre Fletcher's wicket. After that, Unmukt Chand and Alex Hales tried to steady the ship, but Hales' struggle with the bat continued, and he departed after scoring 21 runs. Then, Rutherford and Chand really got going, building a crucial 55-run partnership. Chand played well, hitting his 10th T20 fifty before shockingly retiring out. The game's momentum completely swung in Kieron Pollard's 19th over. He picked up the huge wicket of Rutherford, completely disrupting the Knight Riders' flow with his perfectly executed slower deliveries. The decision to have Chand retire out seemed to come out of nowhere, bringing two new batters to the crease on a tricky, slow pitch where even set batters found it hard to hit boundaries. Unfortunately for the Knight Riders, this experiment failed massively, and they couldn't get over the finish line. In the end, Ehsan Adil bowled a brilliant last over, keeping things incredibly tight with his stump-to-stump bowling, sealing the win.
Kiran: "It's not fair to blame one person for a loss but Shefane Rutherford comes pretty close to that blame here, Chand was anchoring one end, Shefane should have taken more chances with 6-7 overs to go."
Arjun : "How have they messed up this chase??" They made a mistake in their strategy by waiting until the last over to take the game deep. This is a sluggish, sticky pitch that makes hitting boundaries extremely tough.
MI New York won by 6 runs
6 needed for super over, anyone?
11 needed from 2. Ehsan Adil has been brilliant. Can he finish things off nicely?
13 needed from 3 balls.
Ehsan Adil to bowl the final over, 16 needed from the last over
END OF OVER:19 | 5 Runs 2 Wkts | LAKR: 127/4 (16 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 6.68, RRR: 16.00)
- Andre Russell2 (2b)
- Kieron Pollard2-0-12-1
- Rushil Ugarkar4-0-26-0
An excellent over from Pollard, kept things tight
UBT Chand retired out 59 (48b 5x4 0x6) SR: 122.91
Dre Russ in
SE Rutherford c Patel b Pollard 29 (28b 4x4 0x6) SR: 103.57
Pollard to bowl the penultimate over, 21 needed from 12
END OF OVER:18 | 8 Runs | LAKR: 122/2 (21 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 6.77, RRR: 10.50)
- Sherfane Rutherford29 (27b)
- Unmukt Chand56 (45b)
- Rushil Ugarkar4-0-26-0
- Trent Boult4-0-30-0
END OF OVER:17 | 9 Runs | LAKR: 114/2 (29 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 6.70, RRR: 9.66)
- Sherfane Rutherford21 (21b)
- Unmukt Chand56 (45b)
- Trent Boult4-0-30-0
- Rushil Ugarkar3-0-18-0