Jasdeep Singh registered his career-best T20 bowling figures as Washington Freedom became the first team to qualify for the Playoffs of the Major League Cricket 2024 season with a 94-run win over MI New York at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Tuesday.
Player of the Match Jasdeep picked up 3/14 in three overs as MI NY folded out for 88, their lowest total in the history of MLC, in pursuit of 183. Marco Jansen also ended with impressive figures of 2/18 off four overs whereas Lockie Ferguson and Glenn Maxwell got two wickets each.
Travis Head got to his second consecutive half-century to power us to 182/5 in 20 overs. The southpaw hit nine fours and two sixes in his 33-ball 54. Andries Gous top-scored in the contest with 59 off 48 balls, his knock laden with four sixes and three fours.
Batting first, Head got us going with a four and six off Trent Boult in the fourth over as we reached 45/1 at the end of the powerplay. The Aussie continued his aggressive ways hitting three boundaries against spinner Nosthush Kenjige in the ninth over.
Head smashed a six and two fours in the next over to get to his fifty in just 28 balls. Gous also showcased his big-hitting ability with two sixes off Rashid Khan as we got to the 100-run mark after 11 overs. The pair added 73 runs for the second wicket in just 45 balls before Head was caught in the deep for 54.
Gous got to his fifty in the penultimate over before Rachin Ravindra injected the much-needed impetus pummeling 20 runs, including two sixes and a four. Ravindra hit 31 off only 14 balls as we went past the 180-run mark.
For MI NY both Rashid Khan and skipper Kieron Pollard picked up two wickets apiece.
We got to a great start with the ball as Marco Jansen sent back Steven Taylor off the third ball of the innings. Jasdeep Singh got two wickets in his first two overs, in identical fashion, as the MI NY batters perished to mistimed shots.
Jansen got another and soon Nicholas Pooran also holed out in the deep as MI NY collapsed to 25/5 at the end of the powerplay. Jasdeep picked up his third wicket of the night to dismiss Pollard to make things worse for the batting side.
Though Romario Shepherd and Boult showed some resistance, it only delayed the inevitable as we bundled MI NY for just 88 runs and continued our unbeaten run in the MLC 2024 season. Ferguson and Maxwell ended with 2/16 and 2/20, respectively.
We are currently on top of the MLC 2024 points table with nine points from five matches.
Next up, we will meet the Texas Super Kings in our next match at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Friday.
Washington Freedom vs MI New York MLC 2024 brief scores: WF 182/5 in 20 overs (Andries Gous 59, Travis Head 54, Kieron Pollard 2/14, Rashid Khan 2/39) vs MI NY 88/10 in 13.3 overs (Romario Shepherd 25, Trent Boult 16, Jasdeep Singh 3/14, Marco Jansen 2/18).
Washington Freedom won by 94 runs.