MI New York, sister entity of the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians, won the maiden Major League Cricket season in the USA, by beating Seattle Orcas in the final. Nicholas Pooran’s 137 runs from 55 balls saw MI New York chase down the 184 run target with 7 wickets and four overs to spare.
Orcas looked to have the upper hand after posting an imposing 183/9 on the board in Dallas and then had Steven Taylor walking in the first over to tip the scales in their favour.
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MI New York captain Pooran took over from then on. He struck 13 sixes and 10 fours in a sensational show of batting. Fittingly, the West Indian got the job done with a boundary on the last ball of the 16th over to cap off a season where he scored 388 runs at a strike rate of 167 with 34 sixes.
He found support from Dewald Brevis (20) and Tim David (10*) but it was all about Pooran and his big hitting that saw Cameron Gannon (0/36 from 4 overs), Dwaine Pretorius (0/47 from 3 overs), Wayne Parnell (1/22 from 2 overs), Andrew Tye (0/27 from 2 overs) and Harmeet Singh (0/37 from 3 overs) being taken apart.
Batting first, the Seattle Orcas were a hit and miss with Quinton de Kock top-scoring with 87 runs from 52 balls while three more batters – Shehan Jayasuriya (16), Shubham Ranjane (29) and Pretorius (21) – produced double digit efforts.
Trent Boult (3/34) and Rashid Khan (3/9) were the pick of the bowlers to keep the Seattle Orcas guessing.
Deservedly, Pooran was awarded the MVP of the MLC season with Trent Boult taking home the award for being the leading wicket-taker.
“We spoke today about having an opportunity to do something special. Losing our captain, losing a couple of players along the way – our players stuck together. I am very proud of everything every individual did, everyone contributed in some way,” said Pooran on MI New York producing a turnaround of three consecutive wins to lift the title.
“It was definitely game on (at the half-way stage) but we knew we had a good batting wicket. We gave away 20 more runs. We were prepared for this (based on how the last week has gone). We had to be confident, back our skills and we got over the line,” Pooran said on the final.
“I have to give credit to Taylor for getting out so early (smiles). Told myself that I just needed to bat like Nicky P and not think about batting like the captain. I just backed my skills. The platform was there today and the opportunity was there. I had to be brave and it worked for me. Happy that I could see it through to the end – that is what I have been working on for the past 5-6 years. Just want to thank the fans and the support, it has been amazing,” he said on his individual performance.
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