187/9 (20.0)
CR : 9.35
185/4 (20.0)
CR : 9.25
Washington Freedom won by 1 wicket 🏆
Player of the Match
Nikhil Chaudhary
2/2927(19)*
10:54 AM IST, 10:24 PM Local Time: Washington Freedom win by 1 wicket! Do you have any nails left? It was not just a nail-biting game, it was almost finger chopping, wasn't it? It had everything in it. When was the last time, you saw a hat-trick and a last ball six in the same over??? Hands down, this is one of the best T20 games in recent times and surely the best in MLC history.
Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The start was not ideal as they lost Faf du Plessis early for just 8. Saiteja Mukkamalla (37) and Rilee Rossouw (34) led the fight back with a 48-run stand. They pushed the score to 77/1 before both batters got out in quick succession to leave the Super Kings struggling at 84/3. It was soon 110/4 in 15 overs, and the Freedom were getting back into the game with quiet overs.
That is when the South African pairing of Donovan Ferreira and Wiaan Mulder changed the fate of the innings. They smoked a 75-run partnership off just 31 balls. Donovan Ferreira was dropped twice and chanced his way to 44*. Mulder ended with 43* as the pair gave the Super Kings a grand finish with 185/4 on the board. The pick of the bowlers was Nikhil Chaudhary for his 2-29.
In response, Mitch Owen and Steve Smith started off with a bang. The pair added a 91-run opening stand and Owen just went berserk. He was dropped early at backward point and then did not spare the bowling. Smith was out for 30 off 21 as the stand broke. Chapman at 3 went back quickly too leaving the Freedom 98/2. Owen did not stop hammering the ball and made sure Freedom are ahead with 114/2 at the 10 over mark. They need just 74 off 60 balls and were firm favourites.
That is when a remarkable turnaround took place. In the 12th over, Mitch Owen was dismissed for a rollicking 77 off 35. That helped TSK apply the breaks, as they got Andries Gous (6 off 12) and Mukhtar Ahmed (9 off 11) soon to push the score down to 143/5 in 16 overs. The required rate had gone past 10 by then.
Nikhil Chaudhary was finding the odd boundary from one end and was helped with cameos by Obus Pienaar (18 off 10) and Marco Jansen (9 off 5). These small knocks got the ask down to 6 runs off 6 balls. That is when the biggest bit of cinema took place.
Akeal Hosein started with a dot. Then he had Marco Jansen caught at fine leg. Amila Aponso too played the wild hoick and was caught at deep backward square. Akeal Hosein was on a hat-trick and guess what, Asif Mehmood forgot to drag his foot back, gifting the bowler a phenomenal hat-trick.
It came down to 6 runs off just 2 balls. Ferguson somehow managed to get a leg bye to give Nikhil Chaudhary a task of 5 runs in 1 ball. Nikhil was cool as a cucumber and shattered the dreams of TSK. He smoked the final ball over deep midwicket to earn his team a scintillating win. He ended with 27*. The pick of the bowlers surely was Akeal Hosein for his 4-36.
Texas Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. The start was not ideal as they lost Faf du Plessis early for just 8. Saiteja Mukkamalla (37) and Rilee Rossouw (34) led the fight back with a 48-run stand. They pushed the score to 77/1 before both batters got out in quick succession to leave the Super Kings struggling at 84/3. It was soon 110/4 in 15 overs, and the Freedom were getting back into the game with quiet overs.
That is when the South African pairing of Donovan Ferreira and Wiaan Mulder changed the fate of the innings. They smoked a 75-run partnership off just 31 balls. Donovan Ferreira was dropped twice and chanced his way to 44*. Mulder ended with 43* as the pair gave the Super Kings a grand finish with 185/4 on the board. The pick of the bowlers was Nikhil Chaudhary for his 2-29.
In response, Mitch Owen and Steve Smith started off with a bang. The pair added a 91-run opening stand and Owen just went berserk. He was dropped early at backward point and then did not spare the bowling. Smith was out for 30 off 21 as the stand broke. Chapman at 3 went back quickly too leaving the Freedom 98/2. Owen did not stop hammering the ball and made sure Freedom are ahead with 114/2 at the 10 over mark. They need just 74 off 60 balls and were firm favourites.
That is when a remarkable turnaround took place. In the 12th over, Mitch Owen was dismissed for a rollicking 77 off 35. That helped TSK apply the breaks, as they got Andries Gous (6 off 12) and Mukhtar Ahmed (9 off 11) soon to push the score down to 143/5 in 16 overs. The required rate had gone past 10 by then.
Nikhil Chaudhary was finding the odd boundary from one end and was helped with cameos by Obus Pienaar (18 off 10) and Marco Jansen (9 off 5). These small knocks got the ask down to 6 runs off 6 balls. That is when the biggest bit of cinema took place.
Akeal Hosein started with a dot. Then he had Marco Jansen caught at fine leg. Amila Aponso too played the wild hoick and was caught at deep backward square. Akeal Hosein was on a hat-trick and guess what, Asif Mehmood forgot to drag his foot back, gifting the bowler a phenomenal hat-trick.
It came down to 6 runs off just 2 balls. Ferguson somehow managed to get a leg bye to give Nikhil Chaudhary a task of 5 runs in 1 ball. Nikhil was cool as a cucumber and shattered the dreams of TSK. He smoked the final ball over deep midwicket to earn his team a scintillating win. He ended with 27*. The pick of the bowlers surely was Akeal Hosein for his 4-36.
Faf du Plessis (Texas Super Kings Captain): "[On the result] Yeah, great game of cricket. It always nice to be a part of something so thrilling right to the end. Obviously, sometimes you are unhappy because you don't want to be losing. Credit to their players. The way they batted and put pressure back on us. Mitch Owen's innings was very good. We gave him a chance early on and that goes a long way in tight games like these. Just the way we responded and got it down to the wire. Credit to the boys for that.
[On bowling Akeal Hosein in the last over] Yeah, right through the last few overs, I had at it in my mind that I will bowl Akeal for the 20th. There was some reverse swing on offer so I thought the seamers could get wickets and try and push the required score as high as possible for the last over. Akeal did a great job. 6 runs. Yes he would be disappointed that we couldn't win after he got us to a position from we could have. However, to bring it so close was a tremendous effort.
[The difference between the two teams] Yeah, I was surprised. I thought the wicket would get slower as the game progresses. Their intent was superb. If you take away Mitch Owen's innings, the other batters struggled. He was clearly the difference."
[On bowling Akeal Hosein in the last over] Yeah, right through the last few overs, I had at it in my mind that I will bowl Akeal for the 20th. There was some reverse swing on offer so I thought the seamers could get wickets and try and push the required score as high as possible for the last over. Akeal did a great job. 6 runs. Yes he would be disappointed that we couldn't win after he got us to a position from we could have. However, to bring it so close was a tremendous effort.
[The difference between the two teams] Yeah, I was surprised. I thought the wicket would get slower as the game progresses. Their intent was superb. If you take away Mitch Owen's innings, the other batters struggled. He was clearly the difference."
Time for the post-match presentations...
Biggest Six of the Day Award: Mitch Owen
Play of the Day Award: Akeal Hosein (For his hat-trick)
Akeal Hosein (Texas Super Kings): "[On his thoughts right now] Just thinking of ways I could have won the game for my team.
[Plan in that last over] The plan was to just hit the wicket as hard as possible. Some were spinning, some were keeping low. So, it was all about hitting the stumps yeah.
[Plan for the last ball] Basically, the same plan. I felt that one did not spin enough. I had a couple of options in my mind. However, the team felt I should stick with what has worked for us.
[Would Cristiano Ronaldo (his idol) be proud of him?] No"
[Plan in that last over] The plan was to just hit the wicket as hard as possible. Some were spinning, some were keeping low. So, it was all about hitting the stumps yeah.
[Plan for the last ball] Basically, the same plan. I felt that one did not spin enough. I had a couple of options in my mind. However, the team felt I should stick with what has worked for us.
[Would Cristiano Ronaldo (his idol) be proud of him?] No"
Player of the Match: Nikhil Chaudhary
Nikhil Chaudhary (POTM): "[On not getting the strike in the last over] I had enough belief in myself. Even if I get one ball, I can clear the boundary, and we can win the game there. The main focus was to get it to the end. A lot of wickets were falling in the last 5 overs. So, I felt like we need to take it to the last two overs and we can win it from there. Couple of cameos. The one from Marco was pretty good.
[On the tight travel schedules of T20 cricket] I am used to playing a couple of games in a day even back in Australia. I just love to play this sport. So, no one can stop me from it. Even if I have to play 5 games in the next 5 days, I am happy to do it.
[On his celebration after winning] There was no celebration as such. It was just an instantaneous reaction after the last ball six. There are not too many moments where you get to do that. So, happy it came off"
[On the tight travel schedules of T20 cricket] I am used to playing a couple of games in a day even back in Australia. I just love to play this sport. So, no one can stop me from it. Even if I have to play 5 games in the next 5 days, I am happy to do it.
[On his celebration after winning] There was no celebration as such. It was just an instantaneous reaction after the last ball six. There are not too many moments where you get to do that. So, happy it came off"
Steve Smith (Washington Freedom Captain): "[On the thrilling win] Yeah, that was some game, wasn't it in the end. Not every day do you see the game down to the last over and a six of the last ball. Good advertisement for the game and nice to be on the right side of it.
[On Mitch Owen's knock] Yeah, he has been outstanding for us at the top, hasn't he. I think he has gotten off to 3 fliers out of our 4 games. I was trying to get him on strike. Though it is difficult on this ground with how high the grass is. So, I had to just try to hit the ball as well. Yeah, he has been fabulous and hopefully he keeps going for us.
[On the team doing consistently well over the years] We are a close bunch. We get along with each other very well and play for each other out there. We are doing really well out there and we have a great ownership group to take care of us. We want to repay them as much as possible. We try to put in some really good performances and as I said, fortunate to get over the line today."
[On Mitch Owen's knock] Yeah, he has been outstanding for us at the top, hasn't he. I think he has gotten off to 3 fliers out of our 4 games. I was trying to get him on strike. Though it is difficult on this ground with how high the grass is. So, I had to just try to hit the ball as well. Yeah, he has been fabulous and hopefully he keeps going for us.
[On the team doing consistently well over the years] We are a close bunch. We get along with each other very well and play for each other out there. We are doing really well out there and we have a great ownership group to take care of us. We want to repay them as much as possible. We try to put in some really good performances and as I said, fortunate to get over the line today."
What a game to wrap up Super Saturday at MLC. TSK, who were at the top of the table have stumbled here. Washington Freedom, who were right at the bottom have flipped the odds and made sure they stay alive in the hunt. The MLC is heating up and make sure you do not miss a single game from here on.
We have a double header coming up tomorrow as well. Los Angeles Knight Riders vs Seattle Orcas at 3 AM IST (2:30 PM Local Time). San Francisco Unicorns vs Washington Freedom at 7 AM IST (6:30 PM Local Time).
On this note, I, Manan Mehta would like to take your leave on behalf of my colleague Bishal Mandal. Adios!!!
We have a double header coming up tomorrow as well. Los Angeles Knight Riders vs Seattle Orcas at 3 AM IST (2:30 PM Local Time). San Francisco Unicorns vs Washington Freedom at 7 AM IST (6:30 PM Local Time).
On this note, I, Manan Mehta would like to take your leave on behalf of my colleague Bishal Mandal. Adios!!!