DALLAS: Sanjay Krishnamurthy’s unbeaten half-century, supported by Josh Inglis and Hassan Khan’s cameos, propelled the San Francisco Unicorns to victory over the Washington Freedom in a thrilling Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 clash on Monday.
The match was reduced to 14 overs due to persistent rain at Grand Prairie Stadium and San Francisco Unicorns were set to chase a revised target of 177 runs, which they successfully achieved with two balls to spare.
Although they did not get the desired start as Akeal Hosein removed Finn Allen on the first ball, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Krishnamurthy stabilized the innings with a 45-run partnership.
Andrew Tye provided the breakthrough in 4.4 overs, sending Fraser-McGurk back after he scored 18 off 9 with two boundaries.
Krishnamurthy was joined by Inglis and they tilted the game completely in the Unicorns’ favour with a swashbuckling partnership of 77 runs from 30 balls.
Inglis smashed six sixes, with three of them coming in consecutive deliveries of Jack Edwards, during his 45-run knock, taking only 17 balls.
Tye once again broke the partnership as he dismissed Inglis, followed by the wicket of Sherfane Rutherford in the same over.
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Hassan Khan joined Krishnamurthy and continued the onslaught which Inglis had started, scoring 55 runs in 22 balls and steering the side to a crushing six-wicket victory.
Krishnamurthy scored an unbeaten 79 off 42 balls with the help of five boundaries and six sixes, while Hassan scored 32 runs from 11 balls, laced with four boundaries and two sixes.
Earlier, Travis Head and Steve Smith constructed a 101-run opening stand after being invited to bat by the Unicorns captain Corey Anderson.
Both batters scored 56 runs each before falling to Anderson in back-to-back overs as Washington Freedom were reduced to 122-2 in 11.4 overs.
Andries Gous played an unbeaten yet cautious 29-run knock from 20 balls, while Rachin Ravindra struck 16 off 6 to help push the team’s total to 174-3 in 15.3 overs before rain halted the play.
The rain break was long enough to reduce overs, marking the end of Unicorns’ innings.