Hassan Khan's 10-ball 36 takes San Francisco Unicorns to playoffs

In a game that oscillated back and forth, San Francisco Unicorns prevailed courtesy of a late Hassan Khan blitz, chasing down 191 to knock Seattle Orcas out of the MLC 2026 playoffs race.

At the tenth-over mark, the Unicorns looked favourites at 99/1. Finn Allen had teed off with his trademark leg-side hits and cruised to a fifty, while Matt Short had warmed up well. But Allen's dismissal was followed by a lull, and despite wickets in hand, it looked like Unicorns might leave too little for the end.

After two consecutive off-side wides, Jasdeep Singh pushed his line in slightly and had Short go hard. He could only hole out to Marcus Stoinis, who took a sharp catch at cover. It wasn't Stoinis's finest effort of the night though. In the fourth over of the chase, he took a stunning overhead catch at mid-on to send back Lhuan dre-Pretorius. For the next seven overs, they could not make any more breakthroughs, as the Allen-Short pair looked set to see them through.

But the chase stuttered slightly: from the end of the 11th over to the 16th, they managed 32 runs, falling slightly behind the required rate. Short was the key, even though he ambled from 27 (20) to 35 (31) in that period.

With 47 needed in the last four, Short crucially hit two fours in a row, but his dismissal threatened to swing the game once again.

But Hassan Khan had other plans. In at six, he first clubbed back-to-back sixes against Tanveer Sangha in the 18th over, and then tore apart Stoinis, hitting six, four, four and six to sensationally seal the game. The first of those hits was a pristine lofted cover drive; Stoinis proceeded to try three slow bouncers, and each one was sent to the boundary, as Hassan secured Unicorns' semi-final spot. Stoinis ended with 0-48, in sharp contrast to his career-best five-fer in the previous game.

In hindsight, Orcas missed the services of Ottneil Baartman, the highest wicket-taker in campaign, who left the campaign for other commitments, as did Dasun Shanaka.

Orcas made a good fight out of it, but they couldn't have had as many on the board, if it weren't for Breetzke's breezy knock. They started quickly, but found themselves at 34/3, after which Breetzke and Shimron Hetmyer crucially combined for a 65-run stand in 32 balls. Breetzke played expertly with the vacant spaces, hitting four sixes and three fours. A sublime inside-out six off Aaron Hardie in the 12th over stood out.

Hetmyer's innings was cut short by a sharp catch at long-on, with Xavier Bartlett intercepting a flat, forceful hit. The fielder couldn't believe it himself, neither could Hetmyer, who kept staring in disbelief crouched on the pitch.

Breetzke then found company in Stoinis, and even though he got his fifty in 24 balls, skipper Stoinis's slow start added pressure on him. He was on 11 of 13 when Breetzke was dismissed off Peter Siddle, brought in to break the stand. Drama followed as Ali Sheikh was run out the very next ball. Stoinis picked up to end with 49 off 35, with Cameron Gannon supporting him with back-to-back sixes off Hardie.

Yet, at the halfway mark, Breetzke felt they were "30 runs short". Looking back, that could have made a difference.

Aside from the Unicorns - who are now on top of the table - the Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York and Washington Freedom have qualified.

Brief scores:Seattle Orcas 190/7 in 20 overs (Matthew Breetzke 55, Marcus Stoinis 49; Xavier Bartlett 2-36, Brody Couch 1-20) lost to San Francisco Unicorns 194/4 in 19 overs (Finn Allen 65, Matt Short 43; Cameron Gannon 1-25, Lutho Sipamla 1-32) by 6 wickets