If Finn Allen’s record-breaking 51-ball 151 made the opening game of MLC 2025 memorable, the second of the season matched it for excitement, with two teams – whose better-known siblings have waged many battles at the IPL – playing out a thriller that had as many twists and turns as a 40-over contest can possibly have.Chasing 186 for victory against Texas Super Kings, MI New York looked out of the contest, then roared right back, then lost their way, found it again, but then stopped three runs short as Daryl Mitchell, who had triggered the previous turning point in the game, bowled a last over of yorkers and slower deliveries to concede just five to the ninth-wicket pair of Tajinder Singh and Naveen-ul-Haq.It was a special comeback from TSK, as they turned the result their way despite MINY needing 27 from 20 balls with six wickets in hand.Monank Patel made a 33-ball fifty•Sportzpics for MLC
The chase had started direly for MINY with the with the scoreboard reading 32 for 3 after the powerplay. It wasn’t a huge chase, but you wouldn’t want to lose Quinton de Kock and Nicholas Pooran, as well as Agni Chopra, that soon. But that is what happened thanks to Adam Milne and Noor Ahmad. The innings needed rebuilding, so Monank Patel, the No. 3, and Michael Bracewell, possibly MINY’s best bowler earlier, took it upon themselves to do that.They needed to steady the ship first, which they did, only one four – hit by Bracewell – came between Pooran’s dismissal and the end of the seventh over. But then a little impetus was needed, which came as they scored 11, 16, 15, 14 and 17 in the next five overs. And suddenly it was even stevens – 76 needed from 48.Monank had gotten to his half-century, off 33 balls, by then, and Bracewell looked good to join him at the mark, but Milne’s reintroduction provided the next twist in the tale, though it really was Faf du Plessis’ wicket more than anyone else’s. Milne bowled short outside off, Bracewell gave it a thwack, du Plessis leapt and plucked the ball out of the air one-handed at wide mid-off.
If that had a whiff of a turning point, the real one came a few overs later. Kieron Pollard, 38 and replaced as team captain by Pooran, went 4, 6, 4 and 4 against the gentle medium pace of Mitchell to make it 27 needed from 20. Till Mitchell’s sprint to midwicket, pick-up-turn-and-throw-the-stumps-down play sent both Pollard and Monank back off successive deliveries.That was the proper turning point. Only three fours came in the last three overs, two more wickets fell, and Mitchell’s last over, where just one big hit could have finished off the game, had just three runs off the bat, plus a bye and a leg-bye.Devon Conway scored a steady half-century•Sportzpics for MLC
Earlier, till the halfway stage of the Super Kings innings, it didn’t look like they would get anywhere near a strong total. Sure, Devon Conway was around, on 36, but he had taken 26 balls to get there. And three wickets had fallen at the other end.That became five by the end of the 12th over, and Conway was still only on 38 from 28.Which is when things started to change. Calvin Savage, the one-time South Africa Under-19 man and now a USA player, joined Conway and showed his skills with the bat. The 13th over began with a four from Savage off Bracewell, who had picked up two of the five wickets to fall at that stage, and Conway struck the fourth six of his innings two balls later. It wasn’t frenetic, but by the end of the 16th, Super Kings had 140 on the board.Sixes seemed easier to come by than fours as Conway and Savage helped themselves to quite a few, and the partnership reached 79 before Conway, who got his half-century off 35 balls, was run-out for a 44-ball 66. Savage got to his fifty before time ran out, too, ending unbeaten on a 34-ball 53. Between them, the two hit nine sixes. Super Kings scored 110 runs in boundaries. MINY scored 114. Both innings had a dot-ball percentage of 33. Almost nothing to separate them but holding your nerve and winning the key moments.
