Both these sides, along with two others are leading the table with eight points. The Unicorns have, however, had the better of this fixture, so I am backing them.
Key Stats - Pooran in Fine Form
- MI New York’s Nicholas Pooran (207 runs, ave 41.40) is joint 7th on the runs list.
- MI New York’s Kieron Pollard has scores of 100*, 7* & 63* in his 7 MLC innings.
- MI New York’s Corbin Bosch (12 wickets, ave 13.50) is 3rd in the runs list.
- San Francisco Unicorns’ Lhuan-dre Pretorius (313 runs @ 52.16) is 2nd in the runs list.
- San Francisco Unicorns’ Matthew Short has scored 28, 34*, 39 & 21 in his 5 knocks.
- San Francisco Unicorns’ Brody Couch has taken 2/42, 3/41, 2/24 & 3/32 in 5 matches.
- San Francisco Unicorns have beaten MI New York in 4 of their last 5 meetings.
The Unicorns Dominant
The Unicorns lead MI New York 4-1 in their last five matches.
MI New York Started Brightly but fell to Unicorns
After picking up three straight wins to go top of the table the defending champs fell to the Unicorns by five wickets with 19 balls to spare in a low-scoring encounter.
Star hitter Quinton de Kock has picked up back-to-back ducks after scores of 26, 20, 33 and 61 in his previous four innings. Nicholas Pooran has innings of 68*, 70*, 19, 16 and 20 in his last six knocks.
Corbin Bosch has figures of 3/26 and 3/19 in his last four matches, while fellow South African quick Tristan Luus has figures of 3/24, 2/24 and 2/21 in his last four matches, but has played in just one match in the MLC this season. Faisal Khan Ahmadzai took 2/23 in his first match of the season against the Unicorns.
San Francisco Unicorns Seeking Back-to-Back Wins
The Unicorns pulled off a five-wicket win over MI New York in their last game in what was a low-scoring affair, with Sanjay Krishnamurthi’s 48* saving his side from repeating the defending champs’ earlier collapse.
Lhuan-dre Pretorius has been the Unicorns’ star turn with the bat, scoring 58, 69*, 87 and 66 in his seven innings this season. Big–hitting Finn Allen has failed to fire this season, with five scores under 13 in his last six innings. Aaron Hardie has also struggled in his four innings, scoring a pair of 4’s in his last two innings on the back of scores of 28 and 42* in his first two matches of the season.
Matthew Short took 4/17 in the win over MI New York and taken seven wickets in his last four matches and has contributed scores of 28, 34*, 39 and 21 in his last five matches. Brody Couch has been their star with the ball, taking 11 wickets in his last five matches.
MI New York vs San Francisco Unicorns Predicted Lineups & News
On a two-paced pitch in Dallas run-scoring might be tough. Clear skies, humidity of 55-65%, light south-westerly winds and a temperature of 24-26°C will add to the challenges for the batters. We can expect a full 20-over clash as no rain is predicted.
MI New York (possible XI): Monank Patel, Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran (c), Tajinder Dhillon, Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Romario Shepherd, Sunny Patel, Corbin Bosch, Trent Boult, Rushil Ugarkar.
San Francisco Unicorns (possible XI): Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Finn Allen, Matthew Short (c), Connor Esterhuizen, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Hassan Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hammad Azam, Brody Couch, Ghulam Mudassar, Peter Siddle.