Ugarkar holds his nerve to give MI New York second MLC title in last-over finish

It went down to the last over: 12 to get from six balls for either MI New York or Washington Freedom to win their second MLC title. Rushil Ugarkar, a 22-year-old USA medium pacer who has never played international cricket, had the ball. Across him, Glenn Maxwell, to start with, and Glenn Phillips. Two white-ball superstars. But all Ugarkar conceded was six. And he sent back Maxwell with a slower offcutter, allowed Phillips strike for just one ball, and won MINY the title when everything was stacked against him.

Till that over started, the momentum was very much with Freedom and it was chiefly down to Phillips. At the end of the 17th over, in which Trent Boult had conceded just seven runs to Phillips and Maxwell, and Phillips was 25 from 27, the asking rate was upwards of 13 an over. But Phillips targeted Tristan Luus and Boult in back-to-back overs. He took Luus for two sixes in the 17-run 18th over, and Boult for one more in the next, which went for 12, making it a potentially gripping last over. But he got to face just one ball from Ugarkar, who bowled a set of six cutters to spark the celebrations in the MINY camp.

The chase started with Boult picking up two wickets in the first over of the innings to dent Freedom. However, to be fair, despite opener Rachin Ravindra scoring 70 from 41 balls after early jitters and Jack Edwards chipping in with 33 from 22, the Freedom innings didn't seem to find the next gear they needed till Phillips got going. Maxwell, not for the first time this tournament - he largely struggled apart from when he scored 106* in a win over Texas Super Kings back on June 17 - couldn't get the scoreboard moving at the rate required. And three MINY bowlers, including Ugarkar, went at eight an over or fewer, with Tajinder Singh's three overs costing just 18 runs.

Ravindra, another player who had a lean run in MLC 2025 - he had crossed 18 just once before this game, when he scored 32 against Seattle Orcas - did raise his game for the big occasion, standing firm even as wickets fell around him at the start, and hitting two sixes and eight fours in his 170.73-strike-rate knock. The partnership with Edwards was worth 84 in 45 balls, and gave Freedom a platform to launch from. But the next partnership, with Phillips, was of 46 runs, and took 42 balls. Perhaps where the game was lost.

In the first half, after Freedom captain Maxwell opted to field, MINY had the best possible start, with Quinton de Kock and Monank Patel - who finished as the top run-getter in the tournament - adding 72 runs in just 44 balls.

De Kock was the aggressor in that stand, as he was in the third-wicket stand of 56 off 35 balls with Nicholas Pooran, where he scored 32 in 18 balls to Pooran's 17-ball 21.

De Kock's innings ended on 77 from 46 balls, and though there wasn't much after he fell in the 17th over - one of Lockie Ferguson's three wickets - apart from Kunwarjeet Singh's unbeaten 22 from 13 balls, MINY were better placed heading into the break. And they stayed there despite the best efforts from Ravindra and Phillips, and they have Ugarkar to thank for it.