MLC 2023: Nicholas Pooran slams unbeaten 137 to lead MI New York to title in inaugural edition

MI New York have become the inaugural champions of Major League Cricket beating Seattle Orcas in the final of the tournament. MINY chased down 184 in just 16 overs courtesy of Nicholas Pooran who smashed a century off just 40 balls and ended unbeaten on 137 runs with 10 fours and 13 sixes to his name. None of the other MINY batters were actually needed to score even as Dewald Brevis was the second highest run-scorer scoring 20 runs.

Earlier, Quinton de Kock starred with the bat for the Orcas with a brilliant knock of 87 runs opening the innings. Only Shubham Ranjane and Dwaine Pretorius provided him decent support scoring 29 and 21 runs respectively. De Kock slammed nine fours and four sixes during his time in the middle. When he was in the middle smashing the opposition bowlers for fun, the Seattle Orcas seemed to post a total of around 200.

But once De Kock was dismissed in the 17th over, Seattle could only score 41 runs off last 23 deliveries. Trent Boult was yet again at his best picking up three wickets and taking his tally to 22 scalps in the season with the second best being Andrew Tye with 11 wickets. Rashid Khan came up with a brilliant spell too conceding only nine runs and picked up three wickets in his four overs. But David Wiese had a poor day at the office going for 65 runs in four overs.

When it came to the chase, MINY lost Steve Taylor in the first over itself with Imad Wasim castling him on the third ball only to invite their skipper Nicholas Pooran to the middle. What followed later was an absolute carnage. Even as the Seattle bowlers picked wickets of Shayan Jahangir (10) and Dewald Brevis (20), Pooran teed off leaving the opposition bowlers hapless. MINY romped home in 16 overs only to win their ninth title across all T20 leagues.

Latest Cricket News