Captain Nicholas Pooran smashed an undefeated century as MI New York defeated Seattle Orcas by 7 wickets to win the inaugural Major League Cricket season title on Sunday at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
MI New York, riding on Pooran’s undefeated 55-ball 137, chased down the 184-run victory target with 4 overs to spare, adding to the dazzling Mumbai Indians trophy collection. Pooran won the toss and asked the Seattle Orcas to bat first.
Quinton de Kock maintained his strong form in the tournament, blasting a 52-ball 87 with four sixes and nine fours before being clean-bowled by Trent Boult. None of the other Seattle Orcas batsmen were able to convert their starts as Boult and Rashid Khan took 3 wickets each.
Rashid Khan was particularly impressive, conceding only 9 runs in four overs while also dismissing the threatening Heinrich Klaasen. Seattle Orcas’ score of 183/9 seemed fine until Pooran appeared at the crease and got rolling. Pooran annihilated anything Seattle Orcas could throw at him, blasting as much as 13 sixes and ten fours in his match-winning knock.
Pooran, who took over as captain after Kieron Pollard got injured earlier in the event, finished third and put the Seattle Orcas bOwlers on the ropes. As the MI New York skipper sped to his 50 off 16 balls and his 100 off 40 deliveries, the ground appeared too small for Pooran and the bowling too simple.
After finishing fourth in the league, MI New York took their game to the next level in the playoffs. MI New York defeated the Washington Freedom in the Eliminator, the Texas Super Kings in the Challenger, and the Seattle Orcas in the final.