MINYvLAKR review: Oh what a feeling! Inflicting the classic choke, the Polly way…
By MI New York Media
What a game! And what a relief to be on the right side of the result in a thriller! It was a game that kept switching hands, a classic age-old low-scoring thriller, and boy, MI New York have pulled off the classic choke, keeping the LA Knight Riders behind the scoring rate at all times through the innings, and despite them having wickets in hand, never letting their batters cut loose. What this victory means is that we are back in the top four now, with our fate in our hands of making it into the playoffs.
Pollard, power packed!
With the bat, with the ball, on the field, Kieron Pollard was a proper beast. He’s used to pulling off these must-win games, and this afternoon, he’s added another feather to his cap. On a slow pitch where the other batters were struggling to get going, Polly smashed a 36-ball fifty, studded with four sixes. He led a recovery from 63/4 after skipper Nicholas Pooran fell, and anchored the innings to power the team past 140, a fighting target!
Stitching together the dots
Although LAKR lost just two wickets till the 19th over, our bowlers mixed the pace up superbly to deny them boundaries and keep the asking rate over eight runs an over consistently. 38 runs were needed off the last two overs, and then 21 off the last two, when Pollard, once again, found himself in the thick of things, mixing his pace up superbly, getting the dangerous Sherfane Rutherford caught for a 28-ball 29, and conceding just five runs off the 19th over. Ehsan Adil then stepped in to complete the formalities, defending 16 runs with ease as LAKR retired out the set Unmukt Chand.
It's nice to be on the winning side
After four losses, heartbreaks rather in the final over, it’s finally feels good finishing on the right side of the result with two points. The Seattle Orcas too are on six points now and MINY have a better net run-rate. They would be playing their final game before us, which would leave us knowing exactly what we need to make it through to the playoffs. Our fate is in our hands. Let’s storm in!