Two more teams are in action in Major League Cricket on Friday night when the MLC 2025 campaign gets underway for the tournament favourites MI New York and the Texas Super Kings at the Oakland Coliseum.
We were treated to some incredible cricket in the opening match of the season and the task for these two will be to follow that accordingly. Both will be looking to show that they have done enough strengthening to put themselves in contention to win the tournament this term.
MI New York
The inaugural winners of the tournament will be out to get their hands back on the trophy this season. They were favourites to do just that when the outright market went live but then the news broke that Rashid Khan and Azmatullah Omarzai had ruled themselves out of the competition which has left a bit of a hole for the Mumbai owned franchise to fill. You would imagine that they will be replaced in the coming days but it isn’t exactly ideal ahead of their tournament opener.
One thing which hasn’t been damaged is the firepower that MI New York have with the bat. Nicholas Pooran has taken over the captaincy and we should expect him to do some damage but the addition of Quinton de Kock and big hitting all-rounders George Linde and Michael Bracewell should see New York able to go big for the full 20 overs. It will be interesting to see what plans they have with the ball in the middle overs now that the safety net of Rashid Khan isn’t available to them.
Texas Super Kings
The Texas Super Kings are yet to win this tournament. That will be their aim this season but their immediate intention will be to have a better season and their owners Chennai Super Kings had in the Indian Premier League this term. The first thing to note on that is that with the exception of Faf du Plessis, who captains the South African franchise of the Super Kings, this is a much younger, more modern squad than the one Chennai had which should help.
There is some continuity in this Super Kings side. They have retained their top wicket takers Noor Ahmad and Marcus Stoinis for this competition although they have lost Mitchell Santner to the Vitality Blast. If Daryl Mitchell and Donovan Ferreira can catch fire in the middle order then there is no reason why the Super Kings can’t be a threat in this competition. The dimensions of this ground are such that the mystery spinners they have could be very useful.
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on Major League Cricket (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Key Players
Nicholas Pooran had an Indian Premier League where he was hitting sixes like they were going out of business. No ground in world cricket is big enough for him but the boundaries here in Oakland certainly aren’t. If he gets going he could cause carnage.
Noor Ahmad could be pivotal for the Texas Super Kings in this match. He is the one mystery spinner on show who could keep the likes of Nicholas Pooran and Kieron Pollard et al a little more honest. Texas really need his best here.
Betting
It is probably no surprise that only one firm have priced up the sixes in this match after the carnage that we saw on Thursday night but I’m still not sure that a 19.5 line is remotely high enough. We would be foolish to expect the sort of fireworks that we saw in that opening game of the competition but even if you took the 19 sixes that Finn Allen hit on Thursday night out of the equation, we still saw 21 sixes and there are still plenty of big hitters on show here.
When you have the likes of Nicholas Pooran, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Polland, Faf du Plessis, Daryl Mitchell and a couple of others on show then the big hits should keep on coming. They don’t need to be particularly big hits though because certain pockets of this ground are tiny, as you would expect with it being a baseball ground. The Oakland Coliseum is no stranger to the big hits flying and I see no reason why that won’t continue here but given that it is the first game and we’re still finding out who is here and in what shape, I’ll keep stakes reasonable.
Tips
Back Over 19.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
