Underutilised by Punjab Kings (PBKS), Xavier Bartlett stunned MI New York as he snatched a victory from jaws of defeat with his maiden T20 fifty at Oakland Coliseum, Calfornia. From 108/6 in 13th over, Bartlett smashed five sixes in his unbeaten 25-ball 59 as San Francisco Unicorns won the match with three wickets in hand and five balls to spare.
Pooran fails again, MI New York fail to cross 200
Earlier, San Francisco Unicorns captain Corey Anderson won the toss and opted to bowl first. Former India batter Agni Chopra could not get going and registered another single-digit score. Quinton de Kock hit Carmi le Roux for two fours and a six in the 19-run over as MI New York posted 54/1 in powerplay overs. Hassan Khan was introduced into the attack and he got the wicket of Monank Patel for a 14-ball 20. MI New York were 85/2 at the halfway stage. De Kock reached his half-century from 32 balls.
Skipper Nicholas Pooran failed again after announcing his retirement from international cricket. Pooran was dismissed for a single-digit score by Bartlett. In the next over, Hassan got the prized wicket of De Kock. He scored 63 runs from 38 balls, including five fours and four sixes. Michael Bracewell went after Hassan and hit two consecutive sixes. In the next over, Haris Rauf returned to the attack to knock over Bracewell for an 11-ball 17. In the 16th over, Kieron Pollard went berserk and hit Hassan for four sixes. In the next over, Pollard was dismissed by Le Roux for 16-ball 30. In his penultimate over, Tajinder Dhillon lost his wicket to Rauf. Bartlett did not concede a single boundary in the last over. Sunny Patel's 11-ball 20 helped MI New York post 182/7.
Hassan's cameo keeps Unicorns in run chase after collapse
In the run chase, an in-form Finn Allen hit two sixes before getting dismissed by Naveen-ul-Haq. Trent Boult made Jake Fraser-McGurk his victim on the first ball of the third over. Sanjay Krishnamurthi could not make an impact either and became Naveen's second victim of the evening. Cooper Connolly was dropped by Naveen at short fine-leg but he was dismissed off the last ball of sixth over. San Francisco Unicorns were 42/4 after powerplay overs. Hassan got the run chase back on track while Tim Seifert played the anchor role. He hit Adil for two sixes and a four. Then Hassan and Seifert hit Sunny for a six each in the ninth over. At halfway stage, San Francisco Unicorns were 94/4.
Bartlett turns the game upside down
Sunny broke the partnership with Hassan's wicket. He scored 43 runs from 17 balls, including two fours and five sixes. Then, Bracewell got rid of Seifert. The opener scored 33 runs from 27 balls. Bartlett joined skipper Anderson in the middle. He targetted Bracewell and hit him for three sixes and a four in the 15th over. Anderson could not support Bartlett and fell to Adil in the 16th over. Bartlett continued the fightback and hit Boult for a six and two fours. Poor fielding did not help MI New York's cause either. Bartlett reached his maiden fifty in the 18th over from just 21 balls. On the first ball of the final over, Bartlett hit Pollard for a six to finish the run chase in style. His best T20 knock so far was laced with five sixes and four fours.