The final of the inaugural edition of Major League Cricket saw some incredible hitting from Nicholas Pooran, who made a mockery of the 184-run target and took his team to victory. With this win, MI New York became the inaugural champions of the MLC, and the MI franchise has added another T20 trophy to their cabinet.
The final took place between MI New York and Seattle Orcas on Monday at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. MINY won the toss and decided to bowl first. Quinton de Kock played an incredible inning and made 87 off 52 balls, including nine fours and four sixes.
Shubham Ranjane (29 off 16) and Dwaine Pretorius (21 off 7) played good cameos to take their team over the 180-run mark. SEO scored 183/9 in their first inning. It was a big total in the big final. Chasing the target, MINY lost Steven Taylor for a three-ball duck in the first over.
His wicket brought skipper Nicholas Pooran to the crease. And after that, it was all Pooran’s show. He smashed two sixes on his first three balls to make his intentions clear. But then, they took Pretorius apart and smashed three sixes and two fours in one over when he came out to bowl the third over of the inning.
WHO CAN STOP NICKY P⁉️
— Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) July 31, 2023
MASSIVE OVER FROM THE BAT OF THE CAPTAIN!🫡
4⃣4⃣/1⃣ (3.0) pic.twitter.com/865Nyubown
Pooran started the over with a six over long-on and followed it up with another six over long-off. The third ball was hit for a boundary. On the fourth ball, Pooran came down the track and deposited it for another six. He hit another boundary on the fifth ball. The next two balls were wide and single.
With this, Pooran collected 28 runs in Pretorius’ over. He completed a 16-ball fifth and reached his hundred from 40 balls. Pooran ended up scoring an unbeaten 137 runs off just 55 balls, including 10 fours and 13 sixes. MINY reached 184/3 in just 16 overs to become the inaugural MLC champions.
