MLC 2023 Playoffs: De Kock’s 88 powers Orcas into the final; MI New York Survive Freedom challenge
Orcas beat Texas Super King by 9 wickets
Seattle Orcas beat the Texas Super Kings to enter the final of the inaugural edition of the MLC. Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The Men in Yellow got off to a shaky start as captain Faf Du Plessis got out early after scoring 5 runs off 8 deliveries. His opening partner Devon Conway also got out after getting set for 24 off 19 deliveries which included one four and two sixes.
Milind Kumar who came in to bat after the fall of Conway’s wicket followed him soon after scoring 5 off 10 deliveries. Having lost their first three wickets for just 50 runs the Super Kings were in desperate need of a partnership which did not happen in the entire innings as the team kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and could only manage to score 126 runs at the end of 20 overs.
Andrew Tye was the pick of the bowlers for Orcas picking up three wickets in his four-over spell.
A Perfect Chase for Orcas
Chasing a target of 126, Orcas lost Nauman Anwar early in the chase on a score of 10. But Quinton de Kock at the other end made sure that there were no further hiccups in the chase as the South African left-hander stitched an unbeaten partnership with Shehan Jayasurya who also batted sensibly.
And gave good support to De Kock on the other who batted aggressively and did not give any chance to the Super Kings to get back in the game completing a well-deserved half-century in the process. He remained unbeaten on 88 and finished the match for the Orcas
MI New York beat Washington Freedom by 16 runs
MI New York took on Washington Freedom in the Eliminator of MLC. Freedom bowled first after winning the toss and got off to a good start as MI New York lost their first three wickets for less than 50 runs on the board 41 to be precise and were in desperate need of a partnership. The pair of Dewald Brewis and Tim David steadied the ship and added 75 runs for the fourth wicket which propelled MI New York to a competitive score of 141.
Netravalkar was the pick of the bowler for Freedom picking up two wickets for 25 runs in his four-over spell. In reply, Freedom lost Mathew Short early as he departed after scoring 8 runs off 6 deliveries. The 34-run partnership for the second wicket was broken by Kenjige when he dismissed Gous for 24.
Mukhtar Ahmed who was looking good was runout after scoring 19. Freedom kept on losing wickets at regular intervals as no batter went on to make a big score and as a result, they lost the match by 16 runs
