Table-toppers San Francisco Unicorns haven’t had many things go wrong for them this MLC edition, but despite that, Los Angeles Knight Riders have been their kryptonite. They began their campaign with a defeat, and now, as they are eyeing a top-two finish in the group stages, the same team has rattled them with another loss.
LAKR batters establish early dominance
Coming in to bat first, LAKR batters hardly showed any weakness. Andre Fletcher went back early off a brilliant Haris Rauf delivery, but his namesake Andre Russell and Colin Munro made sure that did not hurt the team as much. Russell took 18 balls to reach his 40 at a rapid pace and looked settled to keep bringing more.
Ghulam Mudassar’s short ball, however, brought the goliath down. To Unicorns’ chagrin, Matthew Tromp continued with the onslaught, scoring a 28-ball 49 knock before a Xavier Bartlett delivery sent him packing.
Unicorns did manage to marginally bring down the scoring rate in the death overs, with bowlers making regular inroads. Rauf, Aaron Hardie, and Bartlett conceded 26 runs in the final three as they dismissed three batters. Rauf was at his best in his last over, giving only four runs for two back-to-back wickets.
Early collapse
But this was where the good part ended for San Francisco. They lost four wickets within the powerplay while chasing 185. There was some effort by Matt Short, Hassan Khan, and Hammad Azam to catch up on the asking rate, which was rapidly increasing.
But in the end, it was only enough to bring Unicorns within arm’s reach of victory. Hammad’s dismissal in the 19th over was the final blow for the side. Rauf, the last batter standing, also departed on the very next ball as the Unicorns slumped to an 11-run defeat.
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