Boult's sixes help MI New York eliminate Unicorns in thriller

MI New York and San Francisco Unicorns rode a rollercoaster in Dallas with unending twists and turns, till inaugural champions MINY edged last year's runners-up Unicorns to a two-wicket win. In a game that featured several small but crucial contributions from various players, Trent Boult stood out with his returns of 2 for 19, and even more the back-to-back sixes towards the end of the tense chase of 132, which took MINY to victory and to Qualifier 2 and eliminated Unicorns.

MINY will now face Texas Super Kings to decide who takes on Washington Freedom in the MLC 2025 final.

Unicorns were lagging behind in the game almost from the start, when they were reduced to 16 for 5 in the powerplay. The twist came when No. 8 Xavier Bartlett powered them to a respectable 131 with a 24-ball 44.

MINY were then cruising in their chase with an opening stand of 43, before Matthew Short's three strikes started their slide and Hassan Khan's two double-wicket overs added to the Unicorns comeback. MINY were left needing 24 to get off 19 balls but with only two wickets in hand. The final twist came when Boult smashed two sixes off Hassan to turn the equation into a comfortable five to win from nine balls. MINY did not falter thereafter.

MINY made the most of their decision to bowl, with Boult and Nosthush Kenjige removing Unicorns' top four for single-digit scores. While Boult had Tim Seifert and Jake Fraser-McGurk edging behind, Kenjige had Short and Sanjay Krishnamurthi out caught. The last wicket was thanks to a sharp running catch, with Boult running backwards from short third and finishing with a juggle.

Unicorns' problems were compounded when Hassan Khan was involved in a mix-up with Cooper Connolly, falling short to a direct hit from Nicholas Pooran while on a golden duck.

Bartlett then rebuilt the innings in partnerships with Hammad Azam and Brody Couch, smashing towering sixes down the ground. He helped Unicorns race from 50 to 100 in just four overs after the halfway mark, and finally fell when he slapped a slow and short delivery from Kieron Pollard straight to midwicket in the 18th over. Rushil Ugarkar dismissed Liam Plunkett and Couch on either side of Bartlett's wicket to finish with 3 for 19.

A rain break delayed the start of the chase but didn't reduce any overs. Monank Patel and Quinton de Kock were going steady, scoring 37 runs in the powerplay. But then came Short's double blow: he trapped de Kock lbw from around the wicket, and four balls later struck the top of middle stump by going through Pooran's bat and pad.

Monank led the chase, going at just over a-run-a-ball. But he soon pulled a Short delivery to deep square leg and MINY were 81 for 3. The alarm bells went off when Pollard, who had scored two fifties in the last three games, chipped an innocuous delivery to long-on. Fraser-McGurk took a diving catch, and suddenly, Pooran was looking worried in the dugout.

The alarm bells rang much louder when Hassan struck on consecutive deliveries, first going through Michael Bracewell's pull to knock his stumps over, and then drawing an outside edge from Heath Richards that stuck in Seifert's gloves. MINY were now 98 for 6, still 34 adrift with 31 balls to go.

Hassan struck two more times in the 17th over. MINY were in a lot more trouble, with the equation soon reading 19 to get from 12. Boult stepped up with consecutive sixes off Hassan and even farmed the strike to deny Kenjige much exposure.

In the end, Kenjige himself went on to hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.