Seattle Orcas' last game hero Shimron Hetmyer failed to perform and apart from his performance, the whole batting line-up rattled just like the last season, and they bundled out for only 82 runs against Washington Freedom in match 26 of the Major League Cricket 2025.
Orcas failed to get a good start as Saurabh Netravalkar picked up Shayan Jahangir's wicket on the first ball of the opening over. I the next over, Glenn Maxwell dismissed Aaron Jones. Netravalkar again picked up a wicket as he got rid of Sikandar Raza in the third over, and Maxwell struck again in the fourth, sending back Steven Taylor. Then, to finish a dominant powerplay, Maxwell also got Kyle Mayers out. After six overs, the Orcas were struggling at 21 for 5.
Maxwell, who was seen struggling in the IPL, was brilliant with the ball, ending with figures of 3 wickets for 12 runs in his 4 overs. Netravalkar also returned strong figures of 3 for 13, picking up his last wicket in the 16th over. Jack Edwards also bowled well, taking 3 for 19, including the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen, who was the only Orcas batter to offer resistance. Klaasen scored 48 off 39 balls before being the last man out.
Chasing 83 was the cakewalk for Washington Freedom. Even though they lost Mitchell Owen early to Sikandar Raza, Rachin Ravindra and Mukhtar Ahmed made the chase look easy. By the end of the powerplay, they had reached 50 for 1, needing just 33 more runs.
Rachin scored 32 off 23 before getting out, but Mukhtar remained unbeaten on 36 off 21 balls, taking Freedom to a comfortable win in just 9.2 overs.
After this dominating win, Washington Freedom jumps to the number two tally in the MLC 2025 points table. As for the Orcas, their recent three-game winning streak had brought them back into playoff contention, and despite this heavy defeat, they’re still sitting at No. 4. But they’ll have to watch out, as MI New York, currently fifth, have one game in hand and are just one win behind.
Brief Scores:
Seattle Orcas 82 all out in 17.4 overs (Klaasen 48; Maxwell 3-12, Netravalkar 3-13, Edwards 3-19)
Washington Freedom 86/2 in 9.2 overs (Mukhtar 36*, Ravindra 32; Jasdeep 1-11)
Result: Washington Freedom won by 8 wickets.