152/6 (20.0)
CR : 7.60
167/5 (20.0)
CR : 8.35
Welsh Fire won by 15 runs 🏆
Player of the Match
Rachin Ravindra
1/2598(44)
19.3
0
Lockie Ferguson to Sherfane Rutherford
DOT BALL! That should be the game for the hosts. Short of a length delivery around leg, slower ball. 77 mph. Rutherford mistimes the pull shot from the splice of his blade towards deep square leg. The crowd is buzzing!
17 off two. Matter of two legal deliveries for the hosts....
19.4
0
Lockie Ferguson to Sherfane Rutherford
Swing and a miss! Length ball around fourth stump, angling across the batter. 79 mph. Rutherford swings his bat across the line, gets beaten on the outside edge.
19.5
1
Lockie Ferguson to Sherfane Rutherford
Length ball drifting into the pads. Rutherford flicks it away towards deep forward square leg for a single. What a sensational bowling performance this has been from Welsh Fire in the closing sets! They held their nerve brilliantly under pressure, produced plenty of dot balls at crucial moments and completely shut down the MI London chase. Welsh Fire win a thrilling contest and make it two victories from two matches!
Over 20
MI London 152/6
Rashid Khan0(1)
Sherfane Rutherford24(18)
Lockie Ferguson4-27(20 b)
WF won by 15 runs
1:27 AM IST, 8:57 PM Local Time: An inspiring fightback from Welsh Fire sees them emerge victorious in front of their beloved folks at Cardiff. MI London were in the game at times; they were in the hunt for a long part of the chase, but faltered badly towards the end, coming across one of the better death-bowling performances you'll see in the Men's Hundred. The crowd are on their feet, applauding their team as they complete the formalities.
MI London began brilliantly with the ball, with Trent Boult and Richard Gleeson making the best use of the new ball and the cloudy conditions. Phil Salt and Matthew Short, two usually quick starters, just weren't able to get going. The first three sets yielded 10 runs, and Salt was dismissed three balls after that. Matthew Short struck his first boundary off the 21st delivery, but was cleaned up the very next ball.
Rachin Ravindra joined Joe Root at the crease, and the duo weathered the situation. Ravindra was the more aggressive of the two, finding the boundary every now and then. The duo looked to run aggressively as well, picking the gaps at will and hitting into the longer pockets of the ground. The MI London bowlers began running out of answers, more so when Rashid Khan, one of their integral weapons in the middle phase, was carted over the leg side by Ravindra.
Ravindra kept at his rampage, racing to his 80s with 20 balls remaining in the innings. Rashid Khan redeemed himself in two sets, conceding 11 off them going into the last ten balls. Jordan Cox came in after Rashid had Joe Root out stumped by half the pitch, and he and Marco Jansen went on top apply the finishing touches. Ravindra was deprived of the strike at the back-end, and he was dismissed for 98 in the last set of the innings.
Chasing 168 to win, Will Jacks and James Vince didn't waste time in getting the ball rolling. Jacks' stay in the middle promised much but was short - having struck a couple of boundaries through the leg side, Jacks picked out Kellaway at deep square off Sam Cook. Vince kept at it, and MI London had 30 on the board in the first 15 deliveries. Jason Roy, having survived a caught behind appeal shortly after, proceeded to give good company to Vince as the latter looked in ominous touch.
MI London were in cruise control going into the halfway mark of the chase, but one over from Lockie Ferguson brought the Welsh Fire back in the game. He first went right past Roy's slog and knocked the leg stump back with pace, and Sam Curran departed the next ball playing a rash shot. Nicholas Pooran came in and got a couple of boundaries, the first one being a touch sketchy. Ferguson went on to account for Pooran in his next set, the 14th of the innings, by getting him to hole out at deep square.
The game turned on its head when Rachin Ravindra produced a spectacular catching effort off his own bowling to dismiss James Vince with 46 needed off 29. Sam Cook and Chris Woakes then went on to bowl the Welsh Fire ahead in the game, going for just 16 in the next three sets. Cook, in particular, was tremendous with his lengths - he used the variable bounce off the wicket; Tom Curran and Sherfane Rutherford tried their level best to smash him out of the ground, but failed.
Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson held their nerves in the last two sets, and the Welsh Fire emerged victorious by 15 runs. Rachin Ravindra laid the foundation, chipped in with the ball and on the field as well, and the fast bowlers proceeded to kill the game off. Stick around for the post-match quotes...
MI London began brilliantly with the ball, with Trent Boult and Richard Gleeson making the best use of the new ball and the cloudy conditions. Phil Salt and Matthew Short, two usually quick starters, just weren't able to get going. The first three sets yielded 10 runs, and Salt was dismissed three balls after that. Matthew Short struck his first boundary off the 21st delivery, but was cleaned up the very next ball.
Rachin Ravindra joined Joe Root at the crease, and the duo weathered the situation. Ravindra was the more aggressive of the two, finding the boundary every now and then. The duo looked to run aggressively as well, picking the gaps at will and hitting into the longer pockets of the ground. The MI London bowlers began running out of answers, more so when Rashid Khan, one of their integral weapons in the middle phase, was carted over the leg side by Ravindra.
Ravindra kept at his rampage, racing to his 80s with 20 balls remaining in the innings. Rashid Khan redeemed himself in two sets, conceding 11 off them going into the last ten balls. Jordan Cox came in after Rashid had Joe Root out stumped by half the pitch, and he and Marco Jansen went on top apply the finishing touches. Ravindra was deprived of the strike at the back-end, and he was dismissed for 98 in the last set of the innings.
Chasing 168 to win, Will Jacks and James Vince didn't waste time in getting the ball rolling. Jacks' stay in the middle promised much but was short - having struck a couple of boundaries through the leg side, Jacks picked out Kellaway at deep square off Sam Cook. Vince kept at it, and MI London had 30 on the board in the first 15 deliveries. Jason Roy, having survived a caught behind appeal shortly after, proceeded to give good company to Vince as the latter looked in ominous touch.
MI London were in cruise control going into the halfway mark of the chase, but one over from Lockie Ferguson brought the Welsh Fire back in the game. He first went right past Roy's slog and knocked the leg stump back with pace, and Sam Curran departed the next ball playing a rash shot. Nicholas Pooran came in and got a couple of boundaries, the first one being a touch sketchy. Ferguson went on to account for Pooran in his next set, the 14th of the innings, by getting him to hole out at deep square.
The game turned on its head when Rachin Ravindra produced a spectacular catching effort off his own bowling to dismiss James Vince with 46 needed off 29. Sam Cook and Chris Woakes then went on to bowl the Welsh Fire ahead in the game, going for just 16 in the next three sets. Cook, in particular, was tremendous with his lengths - he used the variable bounce off the wicket; Tom Curran and Sherfane Rutherford tried their level best to smash him out of the ground, but failed.
Marco Jansen and Lockie Ferguson held their nerves in the last two sets, and the Welsh Fire emerged victorious by 15 runs. Rachin Ravindra laid the foundation, chipped in with the ball and on the field as well, and the fast bowlers proceeded to kill the game off. Stick around for the post-match quotes...
Rachin Ravindra has been adjudged Player of the Match!
Rachin Ravindra (Player of the Match): "(On the feeling of the victory) Feels good. We know how good the MI London side is, and the history and pedigree of the team. For us to put on a performance on our home ground the way we played was fantastic.
(Key to his partnership with Root) Picking and choosing the times to go and also trusting the game we play, both can probably be attributed. We don't have the power in terms of the other T20 guys so we just tend to hit the gaps hard and run well.
(On whether the wicket eased out) One hundred percent. Looked pretty nasty early, specially the way those bowlers hit the deck and Salty and Shorty got through that pretty nicely for us. Definitely eased out a little bit if we saw the game go on and as the ball got softer.
(On the caught and bowled) It's nice to catch one in England to be honest (chuckles). White ball's a little bit easier to see I think. Obviously pleasing, because Vincey was batting really well, it was nice getting that breakthrough.
(On their bowling at the death) He's (Ferguson) brilliant. Even Cooky's over, and Marco held his own; Lockie was brilliant. Key wickets at key times for us."
(Key to his partnership with Root) Picking and choosing the times to go and also trusting the game we play, both can probably be attributed. We don't have the power in terms of the other T20 guys so we just tend to hit the gaps hard and run well.
(On whether the wicket eased out) One hundred percent. Looked pretty nasty early, specially the way those bowlers hit the deck and Salty and Shorty got through that pretty nicely for us. Definitely eased out a little bit if we saw the game go on and as the ball got softer.
(On the caught and bowled) It's nice to catch one in England to be honest (chuckles). White ball's a little bit easier to see I think. Obviously pleasing, because Vincey was batting really well, it was nice getting that breakthrough.
(On their bowling at the death) He's (Ferguson) brilliant. Even Cooky's over, and Marco held his own; Lockie was brilliant. Key wickets at key times for us."
Welsh Fire completely flipped the script after the strategic timeout, with MI London needing 54 runs from 30 balls at that stage. They conceded just 38 runs in the closing stages and brilliantly defended their total against a power-packed MI London batting line-up here in Cardiff. Welsh Fire make it two wins out of two in sensational fashion!
For now, this is Pritam Dey signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Rajarshi Das who, along with scorer/analyst Paras Yadav & statistician Aman brought all the updates of this clash. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world. BYE BYE👋
For now, this is Pritam Dey signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Rajarshi Das who, along with scorer/analyst Paras Yadav & statistician Aman brought all the updates of this clash. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world. BYE BYE👋