14 Jul, 2023

Match 1 Preview | MINYvSFU: Pollard vs Finch battle to kick things off

By MI New York Media
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An American cricketing revolution, the rise of a new dawn, a sold-out opening game, lots of anticipatory buzz on the streets. That’s enough buildup. It’s time to hit the ground. It’s time to put on that Blue and Gold! 

“Winning mentality”

Over the last 16 years, through five IPL titles, through two CLT20 wins, the WPL title in our maiden season, the inaugural editions of the SA20 and the ILT20, there was one common thread – we play to win. With MI New York now at the cusp of opening itself to the world, this is one thing our skipper, our legend, Kieron Pollard, couldn’t stress on more. 

“Domestic players most important in franchise cricket”

The MLC has a rule of having a minimum of five USA players in the XI, and MI NY has five capped players in our squad to fill up these slots. Pollard said scouting domestic talent was something that made the MI franchise stand out historically. The first USA-born player to be picked up in the Draft this year was by MI New York, in the form of Steven Taylor. 

Right then, Aaron Finch’s San Francisco Unicorns are our first hurdle to clear. With the likes of Lungi Ngidi, Haris Rauf, Liam Plunkett and Qais Ahmed in their squad, they are one proper potent bowling unit. But don’t be worried. The no-look hitter in Dewald Brevis, the hottest finisher in town, Tim David, the leftie dynamo, Nicholas Pooran, and obviously, the calm head and massive sixes of Kieron Pollard, are just the challenge they’d be trying to avoid. 

What: MI New York vs San Francisco Unicorns   

When: 14th July 3:30 PM CDT, 02:00 AM IST (15th July) 
WhereGrand Prairie Stadium, Texas

What to expect: Small boundaries, a lightning quick outfield, a flat deck with lots of runs. Still, trust Trent Boult to find swing, trust Kagiso Rabada to find bounce, and trust Rashid Khan to bamboozle batters left, right and center. 

What you need to do: Let’s tell you the drill: put on your blue, bring out your cheering partners, and shout your lungs our to show your love and support! 

What they said: “Words cannot describe the connection with the MI franchise. The brand believes in the winning mentality and that is what I have put in myself. It was match made in heaven. It has reaped the awards of winning championships. Now this is a time of transition to help others achieve this level of greatness and I am happy that I am in a position now to influence that change.” – Kieron Pollard, skipper MI New York

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22 Jun, 2025

“Sunny Patel has been the surprise package for us this year”: Mitchell McClenaghan

With figures of 4-0-37-2, including the wickets of Adries Gous and the dangerous Mitchell Owen, Sunny Patel has been one of the biggest positives in the MI New York bowling attack this season. Bowling Coach, Mitchell McClenaghan was equally in praise of the veteran bowler in his post-match press conference chat. Excerpts.. On the MINY bowlers’ performance so farWe’ve got experienced bowlers in our unit. I think tonight we were a little off, and I think we’ve been all through the tournament so far. The plans have been good but the execution has been lacking. Teams have been able to navigate around the big guys and we haven’t been able to support around them. Thoughts on the league so farIt's nice. Another challenge. I love the game, love sharing knowledge. It’s nice seeing the talent of the US players across all teams actually. It’s getting stronger every year. I have been enjoying the league. Bowling plans as the bowlers fought it out towards the end It is still in our minds how Texas brought the game back against us in the first fixture. You’ve got to keep reminding yourself as a bowling unit that if you can take it to the last over, you always have a chance. Sometimes you can panic with the ball and try and think that you have to get wickets earlier in the game than you actually need to. You can take it deeper and build pressure. I must commend our bowlers, they did that this evening. Unfortunately, we were just a little bit short. On Rushil Ugarkar having a tough start with the ball He's an exciting talent. He moves the ball at the top which is why he got the second over today. We missed our line, like we did against Finn Allen and now against Mitch Owen, they will make you pay. He’s a big man and hits it strong and hits the ball hard. I’m not going to come hard on the bloke. We will assess and pump him up. Even though Mark Chapman got them across the line in the last over, he (Rushil) showed some great skills. He just missed a couple of yorkers against him. Lot of positives. He was just against an absolute beast at the top of the innings today. On Sunny Patel’s superb spellSunny has been the surprise package of our side this year. He bowled really well in the warm-up matches for us. He probably missed his length a couple of times trying to search for wickets. Sometimes that happens. I think he’s bowled exceptionally throughout the tournament. He’s become a banker. We are missing Rashid (Khan). He has filled that hole superbly. We’re missing Nosh (Kenjige) as well. He’s filled that role really nicely. He’s a mainstay in this side. I really like how he’s been able to hold his lengths against some of the world’s best players. On the batting unit not having clicked so farIt’s another batter-friendly wicket. The outfield is so fast as well. Our batting is going to click. You look at our unit, we are getting 180s, and we haven’t really had Nicholas Pooran come off. You’ve got some world class players, when they hit form, they don’t stop. What I must commend from the Washington Freedom was that their fielding was exceptional. Get got a hand to a lot of balls and saved 10-15 runs in the field. Thoughts on having Pollard bowl the 20th over The plan tonight was to use our resources early. We had to use Boult and Naveen early to try and put pressure on them. Pollard’s over was really good and kept us in the fixture. Historically, if you look at Polly’s 20th overs which he’s bowled in the past, he has the knack of getting the ball to the keeper. Whatever he does, he gets good bounce, he is hard to hit. He can be difficult if you are chasing 10 runs in the over. He’s not a bad man to have a backup to bowl the 20th over. 

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