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Texas Super Kings (TSK) veteran Dwayne Bravo smashed a brilliant unbeaten 76 after coming in to bat at no. 7 but it was not enough as Washington Freedom (WSH) secured an important victory in their Major League Cricket (MLC) 2023 clash on Monday (July 17) morning.
Chasing 164 for the win, TSK had the worst start possible as they lost Devon Conway for a Golden Duck in the final ball of the first over. He was bowled by Marco Jansen as the South African bagged the first wicket of the game before Saurabh Netravalkar joined in on the action to send Faf du Plessis back to the pavilion.
Du Plessis's wicket was the first of many that TSK eventually conceded as it began an unlikely collapse. Lahiru Milantha managed only 15 in 20 balls while David Miller was dismissed by Dane Piedt after he scored just 14 runs.
Milind Kumar was caught LBW before the wicket of Milantha, but then Mitchell Santner tried to keep his cool while Dwayne Bravo began to get his stride from the other end of the pitch. Santner was eventually dismissed by Moises Henriques but the Bravo almost took his team to the brink of victory with a powerful display of batting.
He forged a partnership of 47 runs in 25 balls with Calvin Savage, but in reality, it was the West Indian's 39 runs in just 16 balls that dominated the innings. Savage only managed to score seven in the partnership before he was caught on the pads in front of the wicket by Jansen.
Bravo's innings consisted of 5 fours and 6 sixes as he struck the ball at a rate of 194.87. But the death overs saw the WSH bowlers perform well as Bravo needed 27 runs in the final over of the match.
Bravo hit two sixes and a four but it was not enough as his team suffered their first loss of the season.
Earlier, Matthew Short, who was bought by Punjab Kings ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL), carried his team's batting on his shoulders with his innings of 80 runs in 50 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes. He kept the pressure on the bowlers and stitched partnerships with all the batters in their side. His contribution took the team to 163/5 in 20 overs, also helped by Obus Pienaar's blitz of 18 runs in 11 balls helping as well.
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