Another chase goes awry as LAKR stumble against Orcas

For the second time in two evenings, Los Angeles Knight Riders fluffed a chase, fumbling against Seattle Orcas in their MLC 2026 fixture on Sunday (June 28).

After two big wins, LAKR have now endured two losses in a row, losing their footing from the second place on the points table. Orcas now sit at the top, having played two games more.

The bungled chase in Oakland was less on LAKR's lack of partnerships, a sore point from their previous game, and more to do with them leaving things too late in a bid to preserve wickets.

After the game, Jason Holder conceded that the team just hasn't adjusted to the slow surfaces, which was evident in the manner they approached the chase. By the 10-over mark, they were going at under seven. By the 15th over, the required rate was nearing 12.

The pursuit of 154 began with Colin Munro and Andre Fletcher flat-batting their way through the first few overs, before Fletcher skied one in the fifth over, and Unmukt Chand perished for a golden duck in the sixth. Orcas's grip became firmer with Harmeet Singh snaring Saif Badar soon after.

Reeling from the triple strike, LAKR went into a shell: by the 13th over, they had ambled to 81/4, also losing Munro, who had traded power for pokes and prods, for a 36-ball 33. With Andre Russell missing the game, Sunil Narine was pushed to six after two failed gigs at four. Much like Nosthush Kenjige in the previous game, left-arm spinner Ali Sheikh tied them down, and Marcus Stoinis used his cutters craftily to keep the run-rate well below the required mark. Narine fell first, and Powell two balls later, succumbing to his knees in frustration after his sweep, a rare lofted attempt, found deep backward square.

In fact, LAKR's first six came as late as the 17th over: Matthew Tromp and Holder's belated lusty blows were too little, too late for a chase that had already derailed.

It wasn't this gloomy for them when the day began. Fabian Allen, in for Russell, struck first ball to take out Shayan Jahangir, and Holder followed by sending back Matthew Breetzke early. Sunil Narine started with a wicket-maiden, snaring Shimron Hetmyer to make it 16/3.

Ali Sheikh brought some purpose into the innings, sweeping Narine for the first of his three sixes, even as Tim Seifert, quiet at the other end, holed out to long-on, giving Allen his second. Sheikh did most of the scoring in the next phase with Marcus Stoinis showing little intent. When Stoinis perished, he had taken 19 boundary-less balls for 10 runs.

Sheikh followed him soon after, but Dasun Shanaka seamlessly took over the hitting role, getting off the mark with a baseball strike to cow corner. Over the next seven overs, he single-handedly carried the Orcas to a fighting score, smashing a 21-ball fifty that had a typically strong bottom-handed flavour.

With Harmeet Singh for company, Shanaka bruised the Knight Riders with his enterprising leg-side play, fearlessly clearing the ropes five times. But it wasn't all brute power: he infused it with wristy drives in the vacant point region. To add to their misery, keeper Fletcher spilled a skier off Shanaka's bat in the 19th over. That, and the final over combined to give them 32 runs, eventually making all the difference.

The Los Angeles leg now awaits LAKR, with the hope that they will return to winning ways.

Brief scores:Seattle Orcas 154/7 in 20 overs (Dasun Shanaka 58*, Ali Sheikh 38; Sunil Narine 2-17, Fabian Allen 2-18) beat Los Angeles Knight Riders 134/8 in 20 overs (Colin Munro 33, Jason Holder 21; Marcus Stoinis 3-28, Harmeet Singh 2-20) by 20 runs.