Gous, Ravindra outdo Pooran in Washington Freedom's win

Andries Gous's 54-ball 96 and Rachin Ravindra's 60 off 30 powered Washington Freedom to a five-wicket win over MI New York. Freedom moved to the second spot on the points table and will await the result of the TSK vs LAKR match to see if they can retain that position and have two shots at making the final.

Despite the majority of the MINY batters not making much of an impact, skipper Nicholas Pooran struck a belligerent 86 off 44, which included 8 sixes, to take his side to 187 for 6. However, his knock went in vain as Gous (4 fours, 8 sixes) and Ravindra (5 fours, 2 sixes) put on a 116-run stand in less than 12 overs to set up Freedom's successful chase.

Asked to bat first, MINY lost Quinton de Kock early as he mistimed a pull off Saurabh Netravalkar in the second over. Monak Patel hit a couple of boundaries before falling to Glenn Maxwell, leaving his side at 31 for 2 in the fifth over. Pooran then hit a four and a six off Maxwell, who completed his spell inside the Powerplay, finishing with 1 for 35 as MINY moved to 52 for 2. Pooran also hit a six off Mitchell Owen while Kunwarjeet Singh got a boundary off Nikhil Chaudhary, taking MINY to 75 for 2 at the halfway stage.

Pooran was on 30 off 25 at that stage when he stepped on the accelerator, hitting two fours and two sixes off Mitchell Owen to bring up a 31-ball fifty. Kunwarjeet also got a six off Ben Dwarshuis while Pooran added to his sixes tally before the 90-run third wicket partnership ended when Kunwarjeet fell to Ian Holland on 26. But there was no stopping Pooran as he hit two sixes off Chaudhary and a maximum and a four off Owen to help his team to 150 in 15 overs. However, he was out lbw to Netravalkar and this led to a flurry of wickets as MINY lost five wickets for 37 runs to finish just short of 190.

Owen struck a six off Trent Boult in the first over of the chase but Freedom were in trouble soon after as the opener fell to Shakib Al Hasan while Steven Smith got out to Boult. The first five overs yielded only 29 before Gous and Ravindra got going in Ehsan Adil's over, getting 15 off it to help Freedom end the Powerplay at 44 for 2. Both batters cleared the ropes with regular frequency after that, taking their side to 83 for 2 after 10 overs.

The 100 came up in the 12th over before Ravindra hit three fours off Boult, the first one helping him to a 26-ball fifty. Gous then hit two sixes off Rushil Ugarkar, the first maximum bringing up his fifty off 38 balls. In the same over, however, Ravindra failed to clear the ropes as the third wicket stand came to an end. Gous kept the attack going as he hit two fours and two sixes in Romario Shepherd's over, and two more sixes off Adil to take his team closer. Although he wasn't there till the end, getting out four short of a hundred, Maxwell finished it off as Freedom got over the line in 18.3 overs.

Brief scores: MI New York 187/8 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 86 off 44, Kunwarjeet Singh 26 off 20; Rachin Ravindra 2-6) lost to Washington Freedom 190/5 in 18.3 overs (Andries Gous 96 off 54, Rachin Ravindra 60 off 30; Trent Boult 2-33) by 5 wickets.