LAKRvMINY report: 6, 6, 6, and a turnaround for the ages! We are into the playoffs!
By MI New York Media
6, 6, 6! Kieron Pollard, he’s been there, he’s done that. The drama, the pressure, the asking rate creeping up. Nah. The big man just swung, thrice, each one bigger than the previous. And just like that, JUST LIKE THAT, MI New York romped into the play-offs.
The Llord of Yore
If you had just one rule to live life by, this is the one: You never, ever, ever, ever, write us off. Polly won’t let you. The Llord in the Blue and Gold, oh, he’s been doing this for nearly a decade and a half, and we just cannot seem to have enough. When 32 runs were needed off 24 balls for MINY to qualify, and it looked a tad sticky with the fifth wicket having gone down, Pollard was in no mood to add to the drama. Poor Spencer Johnson was at the receiving end. Three consecutive sixes, the first straight over the sightscreen, the second way over deep square leg, and the third, in vintage style, over cow corner. The game was sealed!
NICHOLAS POORAN! The star in 2023, the star in 2024.
While Pollard’s act was the final flourish, Nicky P was the anchor. Steadying the ship after an early wicket with Dewald Brevis, before taking on the game, smashing Andre Russell for a six and a four in the 13th over to reverse the pressure on LA Knight Riders, and then sitting back and letting Polly do the heavylifting towards the death, it was some knock.
“We’ve been in the same situation last year. Everyone put their hands up and came together to believe,” he said in his Player of the Match speech. Indeed. We’re reliving 2023 all over again!
Rashid brilliance keeps LAKR to 130
We didn’t just have to win, we had to win inside 18.2 overs to ensure our net run-rate went over LAKR’s. It was important for the bowlers to keep the Knight Riders down to a smallish total after we elected to bowl first. And boy, they were right on the money. Trent Boult and Nosthush Kenjige, as usual, struck early, before Rashid Khan came in, and with a three-wicket spell, tied their batters down, to keep them to a very-chasable 130.
YEAH, WE DID IT!! We are into the playoffs. It was all about believing. And now, we have a date with the Texas Super Kings on Wednesday (July 24) in what will be a straight Eliminator. We were in a very similar position last year as well, scraping through to the playoffs, and before we knew it, we were on a roll and the cup was ours. Let’s make 2024 a 2023, shall we?
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“It’s a tough pill to swallow”
It’s never easy knowing 266 wasn’t enough on the day. A record 29 sixes were hit by MI New York – the most ever in a T20 innings. On nights like these when lightning strikes twice, you don’t fight the powers. You just accept it wasn’t out night.“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Mark Boucher at the post-match press conference. “I think this ground is very small. In the beginning stages of the tournament, the wickets weren’t as good as they are now. It made bowling extremely tough. The dew factor at the backend of the game made bowling extremely tough for the bowlers and the fielders. But in saying that, we had our chances. If we had taken those chances, we could have built a bit of pressure. We knew when we scored our total, on a pitch that is good and small boundaries, if there was one team that could chase this down, it was these guys.”MI New York’s MLC 2026 campaign might have come to an end, but it was eventful and certainly memorable. We gained momentum and peaked at the right time, with all parts of the puzzle seemingly falling in place. “The one area where we’ve struggled throughout the tournament has been our batting. We haven’t got any flow in our batting in the tournament. Coming into the game today, even though we lost the last game, I thought there was something going there. Nicky’s (Pooran) knock was fantastic. Quinny (de Kock) got us off to a good start as well. Polly coming in. We put on a really good score and our batters did really well. In the middle stages of the tournament, our bowlers really kept us in the tournament,” he said. Whether it was Kieron Pollard pulling out matches from the dead, something he’s done for the Blue and Gold for over 17 years now, or whether it was Tajinder Dhillon’s cameos, or Rushil Ugarkar’s large-hearted bowling, Quinton de Kock’s typically Quinny-like starts, or a record-breaking final flourish, there certainly has been enough for us to celebrate. Let’s give it some time. When the disappointment withers, what will remain is pride, the pride we have in this side. This is MI city, this is MI team, we are MI New York. 17 Jul, 2026Celebrating a 106(33), that is enough on most days…
…Sadly, this wasn’t one of those. But when the dust settles and the disappointment of seeing a massive total being overhauled dies down, we’ll the pride in this MONSTER NICHOLAS POORAN knock. He loves these knockout games in the MLC, doesn’t he! Against the Washington Freedom in the Eliminator, he wasted no time settling in. The first ball was a single. Ball 2: SIXBall 3: SIXBall 4: SIXBall 5: FOURThis was followed by another 6, 4, 0, 6, 6, 6 to bring up his fifty off just 14 balls. None of them were mishits in any sense. Reading the bowling to perfection, he was happy to step out and go over long-off, pull away the short stuff, tonk them down the ground, cut them through point. Just peak, beast mode. He wasn’t backing down. Against Nikhil Chaudhary’s off-spin, he kept the fifth gear going. 6, 4, 1, 0, 4, 6, 4, 6 across two overs, and he had the fastest MLC century, off just 31 balls. He fell immediately after. All this inside the 12th over. Sheer madness was on display. Again, it might get forgotten given what happened in the second innings and how Washington chased down a mammoth total, but it was a knock for the ages nevertheless. Nicky P has added another feather that sits alongside his iconic 137* from 2023!16 Jul, 2026The Eliminator report: Crazy game, but ends in heartbreak :(
266 runs chased down. 51 sixes hit in the game. It’s probably a once in a lifetime moment, and the partnership of 241 runs in just 89 balls between Steven Smith and Andries Gous was again one of those, seen now, might never be seen again moments. Alas, it came against us in the Eliminator. A crazy game, but on the wrong side of the result.. Nicholas Pooran: 106 (33)“It wasn’t meant to be,” our skipper said at the post-match presentation. But his knock deserves all the appreciation. Five fours, 13 sixes, and a century off just 31 balls. It was peak Nicky P. Beast Nicky P. He was just unstoppable, smashing everything around for fun. Imagine a 24-ball 51 by Quinton de Kock felt like second fiddle! And then Polly goes wild!Pooran came, smashed, and was done by the 12th over. Kieron Pollard took it upon himself to carry the baton forward. With a 25-ball 64, he kept the shots coming, the sixes flowing, and ensured MINY finished strong. The final 266/9 came via Trent Boult and his 10-ball 22. That Smith-Gous stand On most days, a target of 267 is daunting enough. But lightning struck twice, first in the form of Pooran’s brilliant century, and then with Gous’ 51-ball 132 and Smith’s 48-ball 110. They rode their luck, but it just felt written in the stars. Ruing the missed chances 9.4: Smith gets a life 10.1: Smith gets put down again 10.6: Now Gous is dropped11.5: Both the bowler and the keeper miss a run-out chance In 13 balls, with four chances gone down, the signs were clear. It simply wasn’t our day. The batters then switched gears and went on a rampage, with 29 runs coming off the 13th over, 21 off the 14th and 31 off the 15th, virtually killing the game. This is where it ends. 2026 wasn’t to be. It’s a tough one to swallow. But once the dust settles, we’ll look back at how heartwarming this season has been with new heroes stepping up, older ones turning back the clock, and wins pulled off from nowhere. 15 Jul, 2026
