Nicholas Pooran put up a superlative effort with the bat to help MI New York clinch the first-ever Major League Cricket title. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 137 runs off 55 balls as MI New York took down Seattle Orcas by seven wickets at Grand Prairie Stadium, Dallas. MI New York restricted Seattle Orcas to 183/9 before chasing down their target in just 16 overs. MI New York didn’t get off to the best of starts as Imad Wasim dismissed Steven Taylor in their third delivery of the opening over. However, Pooran made his intentions quite clear for the night when he struck consecutive sixes off Wasim’s bowling in the same over. The West Indian showcased tremendous form as he hit Dwaine Pretorius for three sixes and two boundaries in the third over. Opening batter Shayan Jahangir fell to Wayne Parnell in the fifth over, but Pooran continued to find maximums at the other end. He struck three sixes off Andrew Tye’s bowling to take MI New York’s score to 80/2 in just 6 overs. Pooran kept finding the middle of his bat and smashed a total of 10 fours and 13 sixes during his innings. The Captain remained unbeaten on 137 runs off 55 balls and single-handedly took MI New York over the line with 4 overs to spare. Earlier in the day, MI New York won the toss and put Seattle Orcas into bat. Quinton de Kock looked in prime touch as he struck Jessy Singh for consecutive boundaries in the second over. However, Rashid Khan sent De Kock’s opening partner Nauman Anwar packing for 9 runs off 13 balls in the fifth over. Thereafter, Shehan Jayasuriya provided excellent support to De Kock as he hit David Wiese for a four and six in the seventh over. But Steven Taylor bowled him out for 16 runs off 15 balls in the tenth over. Following Heinrich Klaasen’s early departure, De Kock and Shubham Ranjane put up a fantastic partnership of 51 runs from 24 balls to take Orcas’ score to 142/4 in 16.1 overs. Thereafter, the Orcas kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but Dwaine Pretorius’ cameo of 21 runs from 7 balls helped his team post a formidable total on the board.
