MLC 2023: Super Kings wrap up Knight Riders for just 112 runs as Pakistan spinner bags four wickets after Conway fireworks

Major League Cricket commenced with an impressive win for the Texas Super Kings over LA Knight Riders by 69 runs

SportsTak

• Fri • 14 Jul 2023

Major League Cricket (MLC) commenced with an impressive win for the Texas Super Kings, who beat the LA Knight Riders by 69 runs at the Grand Prairie Stadium on Friday (July 14) morning. Devon Conway and David Miller shone with the bat while spinner Mohammad Mohsin took four wickets to secure their first points in the inaugural edition of the competition.

Chasing 182 for the win, LAKR never seemed to settle into the job. Only three of their batters managed to hit double figures, with skipper Andre Russell hitting the bulk of the runs for his team.

The TSK bowlers hurt their opponents from the get-go. Rusty Theron got the dangerous Martin Guptill (0) and Rilee Rossouw (4) in the first over itself as LAKR were reeling on 4 for 2. Nitish Kumar fell for a duck, in the very next over, and Unmukt Chand in the fourth. This left the Knight Riders on 20 for 4 and in a precarious situation.

Then Jaskaran Malhotra, one of three players to hit 6 sixes in an over in T20 cricket, came in and took on the TSK bowlers. He smashed 22 off 11 runs at a strike rate of 200 and established a quickfire partnership of 36 runs in 14 balls but a loose shot meant he was bowled by Gerald Coetzee.

Russell then took control of the onslaught and brought up his maiden half-century of the tournament. His partnership of 47 runs in 35 balls with Sunil Narine gave his team a fighting chance but then Narine fell to a poor shot off Mohammad Mohsin's bowling while he was struggling at 15 off 13 balls. Russell soon followed as the match slipped into the Super Kings' hands.

Mohsin wrapped up the final three LAKR batters to complete his four-fer while conceding just eight runs in his three overs to bundle the side for 112 runs.

Earlier, Devon Conway and David Miller scored 55 and 61 respectively after skipper Faf du Plessis lost his wicket for a Golden Duck. From 43 for 2, TSK went to 120 before Conway lost his wicket as the New Zealand-South African duo set up a partnership of 77 runs in 49 balls.

After their wickets fell, Mitchell Santner (21 off 14 balls) and Dwayne Bravo (16 off 6 balls) were in their best T20 form to take the team to the unassailable target of 181 for 6.