MLC final week: Nicholas Pooran, and a bit of this and that
It was a competition of gripping contests, but MI New York's stunning run through the playoffs and Pooran's unbeaten 55-ball 137 in the final put everything else to shade
Ashish Pant
31-Jul-2023
Two centuries, four four-wicket hauls, and Nicholas Pooran saving his absolute best for the last. The final week of the inaugural Major League Cricket (MLC) was full of great action, and culminated in MI New York being crowned champions. A sellout crowd of around 7000 in Dallas came in to watch the final between Seattle Orcas and New York. And they witnessed a one-man show with Pooran, standing in as captain for the injured Kieron Pollard, hammering an unbeaten 55-ball 137 to add another trophy to Mumbai's already glittering cupboard. Here's how the final week of MLC panned out.
— Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) July 31, 2023
Can't stop watching @nicholaspooran's sixes he hit today‼️ #MLC2023 #MLCFINAL pic.twitter.com/OynKTi2xnD
Pooran does Pooran things
Let's start at the end…
Five IPL titles, two Champions League T20 titles, one Women's Premier League title, and now the MLC title - Mumbai Indians teams are not known as serial winners for nothing, and again proved that the finish matters more than anything else. MI New York managed just two wins in their five league games, and only qualified for the playoffs because of their net run-rate. But then they won three games in five days, ending with the win over Seattle Orcas, the most consistent team of the tournament.
It was by no means an easy chase in the final.
Seattle were asked to bat and scored 183 for 9, with Quinton de Kock leading the way hacking a 52-ball 87. Only once in MLC had a target in excess of 184 been chased down - by Seattle against New York in the last league game of the season earlier in the week.
In the final, New York lost Steven Taylor and Shayan Jahangir early. But Pooran then stepped up and the jam-packed Grand Prairie Stadium was in for a treat. He blocked the first ball he faced, and smashed the next two for sixes. There was no stopping him after that and Pooran reached his fifty off just 16 balls, the fastest of the tournament. He then smacked three sixes in Andrew Tye's opening over and soon reached a century off only 40 balls, again the quickest in MLC.
The six-measuring radar was tested to its limit with the people in the stands ducking for cover with Pooran whacking nine fours and 13 sixes to take New York over the line with 24 balls to spare.
The winning shot, a fall and a shriek
The winning moment of any final probably lingers in people's consciousness the longest.
In this case, the winning shot was probably the most anti-climactic. With New York requiring four to win, Cameron Gannon delivered a pinpoint yorker on leg stump. Pooran somehow managed to get his bat down in time and squeezed it past short fine-leg. He lost his balance in the process and ended on the deck flat on his back, but seemed to have been shrieking in delight all through to signal the win.
Would he have preferred ending it in better style? Likely. Does it matter, though? Not at all.
Welcome to the Boult show
While Pooran ended the tournament as the highest run-getter, that New York made it to the final at all was down to Trent Boult notching it up a gear, with ball and bat. He picked up seven wickets and scored nine runs in the first week-and-a-half of MLC. In the last week, he more than doubled the count on both charts.
He started off by first spanking an unbeaten 20 off eight balls against Seattle, an innings that was a combination of the finest unorthodox shots, clean hits and educated inside-edges. He followed it up with a four-wicket haul, where he showed his class with the old ball, delivering slower knuckle balls to perfection.
In the Eliminator, Boult broke the back of Washington Freedom's chase with 4 for 20 as New York defended 141. A hat-trick of four-fors followed in Qualifier 2, where he picked up 4 for 24 to clean up Texas Super Kings for 158, a target that was achieved with minimum fuss by New York.
In the final, Boult picked 3 for 34 to finish the tournament with 22 wickets in eight outings at an average of 10.36 and economy of 7.39.
Klaasen ticks off another first
Pooran's century in the final was not the first three-figure score of the tournament. That feat was recorded by Seattle's Heinrich Klaasen earlier in the week against New York. With Seattle chasing 195, Klaasen scorched his way to an unbeaten 44-ball 110 to take his side to a two-wicket win with four balls to spare. He hit nine fours and seven sixes, which included taking Rashid Khan for 26 in an over. Klaasen took 41 balls to reach his century, just one more than what Pooran took in the final.
Domestic watch: Cameron Gannon
Gannon finished the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker behind Boult with 11 wickets at 17.36 and an economy of 7.39. He picked up a wicket in every game he played bar the final and was quite impressive all along. He has the height, can generate good speeds, and had most batters in trouble all through. Gannon got the Player-of-the-Tournament award for his performances.
The hits and the misses
Pooran, with 388 runs in eight games at 64.66 and a strike rate of 167.24, was certainly one of the biggest hits. He failed to enter double-digits in just one of his eight innings, and scored two fifties and a century. Quinton de Kock also gave a good account of himself with the bat, while Boult shone the brightest with the ball.
As for the misses, Faf du Plessis of Texas Super Kings was the biggest disappointment managing just 46 runs in seven innings. He had two ducks and managed to get into double-figures only twice in seven attempts.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo