Pollard, Anderson guide MINY to top of the table

MI New York climbed to the top of the MLC 2026 standings after stretching their dominant head-to-head record over the LA Knight Riders to 6-0. This game, LAKR's last for the season at their home venue Pomona, was a tense affair and needed the experienced heads of Kieron Pollard (63* off 35) and Corey Anderson (37* off 24) to work together to see the holders get over the line in a chase of 165 with a ball to spare.

The defeat, LAKR's fourth in five games, resulted from another iffy batting performance after they were asked to bat first. Unmukt Chand fell cheaply once more to Corbin Bosch before the hosts plodded away to a 37-run Powerplay against some disciplined MINY bowling. Andre Fletcher appeared to drag LAKR out of the mire, striking three sixes in a five-ball stretch post the fielding restrictions but edged Rushil Ugarkar to the 'keeper to fall for a 26-ball 34.

Another period of consolidation followed with Matthew Tromp dropping anchor. The onus was on the batters at the other end to score quickly, but none could maintain it for an extended duration. Rovman Powell struck back-to-back sixes off Romario Shepherd before falling to Ugarkar in the 14th over. Andre Russell struggled to get going and fell to the last ball of the 17th over - a wicket-maiden by Bosch, who finished with 3 for 19. Just when all hopes seemed lost, Jason Holder stepped up to the plate with a blistering onslaught at the death. He hit three sixes and as many fours in his 22-ball 43 as LAKR managed 44 runs from the final three overs of the innings to reach a respectable total.

It was one they looked poised to defend after MINY crawled to 34/1 after the Powerplay. By the 10-over mark, that score had only edged to 55/2 with the asking rate climbing beyond 11. The tide turned when Pollard took 14 off a Shadley van Schalkwyk over. Still at 80 for 4, Pollard and Anderson had a lot of work to do in the final eight overs.

The pair were calculative with their surge, even allowing Sunil Narine to finish his spell with just three runs off the 15th over, returning quite remarkable figures of 4-0-7-0. That left MINY needing 62 from the final five overs. Pollard struck Holder for a six and a four in the 17th while Anderson added another six to eke out 19 runs. Having got to a 27-ball 50, Pollard found two more boundaries off Russell to reduce the equation to a very gettable 19 off 12. MINY needed nine runs off the final over but didn't manage any boundaries off the first four deliveries from Carmi le Roux before Anderson got under a slot ball and sent it soaring over long on to complete the win.

Brief scores: Los Angeles Knight Riders 165/6 in 20 overs (Jason Holder 43, Matthew Tromp 44; Corbin Bosch 3-19) lost to MI New York 168/4 in 19.5 overs (Kieron Pollard 63*, Corey Anderson 37*; Carmi le Roux 2-39) by six wickets