Washington Freedom vs Texas Super Kings, 13th Match, Major League Cricket 2026 - CommentaryWAF vs TSK, 13th Match, Major League Cricket 2026 - Commentary

We had a cracker to start the weekend and Washington Freedom just about held their nerve to beat table-toppers, Texas Super Kings. That lifts them to 4 points and we now have 5 teams with the same number of points. Another action-packed day awaits us tomorrow at the Coliseum and we'll be back for another double-header. Do join us for all the action. For now, cheers and bye..

Steven Smith | WAF captain: Yeah, I mean, that was some game, wasn’t it, in the end. Not every day you see a hat-trick in the last over and six off the last ball to win. So, yeah, good advertisement for the game. Nice to be on the right side of it. (Asked about Owen) Yeah, he’s been outstanding up top, hasn’t he? He’s got off to three flyers for us, I think, out of our four games so far. So, I was trying to just get him on strike at the start, but it’s quite difficult on this ground with how high the grass is to get singles. So I actually had to start trying to hit the ball as well. So, nah, he’s been fabulous. Hopefully he keeps it up for us. (How do you remain consistent?) Yeah, we’re a close bunch. We get on with each other really well, and we play for each other out there and you keep getting up this. Yeah, we’re doing our best. We’ve got a great ownership group who take care of us and we want to repay them as much as possible and we try to put in really good performances. Like I said, fortunate to get over the line tonight and in a nail-biter.

Nikhil Chaudhary | MVP - (On his thinking) I just had a belief in myself; even if I had one ball, I could clear the boundary with that ball and win the game from there. And the main focus was to get to the end, probably because wickets were falling quite quickly in the last five overs. My main focus was to reach the last two overs, and then we could probably win from there. And then a couple of cameos from Obus (Pienaar) and Marco (Jansen) were great as well. (On the tight schedule) We used to play a couple of games every day back in Australia. So I just love the sport, and there's no way anyone can tell me not to play this game. I just love it, even if I have to play five games in the next five days, I'm happy to do it. (On his reactions at the end) There was no celebration, it was just instinct after the last ball six. There's so many moments in this game where we get that day to leave and then I actually got it, and hopefully it just came out, and it was good.

Akeal Hosein - Just thinking of the ways I could have won it for my team. The plan was to hit the wicket as hard as possible. Some were spinning, some were staying low, just wanted to attack the wickets. Just the same plan, it didn't spin enough. Had a couple of plans in my mind, but decided to stick with the best.

Faf du Plessis | TSK captain: Yeah, great game of cricket. I think it’s always just nice to be a part of something that’s a thriller right to the end and obviously, sometimes you’re not happy because you’re on the losing side. But credit both ways. Credit the way they came out and batted, the way they put pressure back on us. Mitch Owen’s innings was unbelievable. We gave him the chance in a tight game like that, that goes a long way and just the way we responded to come back, I think most teams would not get it close. So credit to the boys for fighting till the end. (Asked how they got to the last over) Right through the last five, six overs, weighing in my mind was wind. With the ball reversing, I felt the seamers could really get wickets and try push it as big as possible for that last over and he did a great job. Six runs. I know he’outside the leg-stump feel disappointed not winning the game because he got us into a position where we perhaps could have won it. But the way that he kept us in that last over, tremendous effort. (Difference between the two teams?) I was surprised, I thought that it could get a bit lower towards the end. It’s done that throughout the competition so far. But like I said, their intent was really good. If you take away Mitch Owen batted to the rest of the batting lineup, he was definitely the danger man. So that chance for me is probably where we would feel, you take that three runs off a 190 chase and all of a sudden it looks a lot different.

22:22 Local Time, 05:22 GMT, 10:52 IST: What a match! You'd think TSK had no right to take it as deep as it happened. They looked down and OUT when Mitchell Owen was going all guns blazing. Steve Smith anchored and the opening pair added 91 in less than 8 overs. But TSK fought back in the middle-orders, choked the run-flow and took vital wickets, including Owen's. But Obus Pienaar and Marco Jansen played handy cameos, and left Washinton Freedom needing 6 runs off the last over with 4 wickets in hand. But Akeal had other ideas as he pinned a sensational hat-trick. Batter after batter lost their wicket, nearly leaving Nikhil Chaudhary stranded at the other end, but he did manage to get on strike with the equation being 5 runs needed off 1 ball. That was one ball too many for him as he smashed a distraught Akeal into the stands. Freedom will celebrate this win, but they know they nearly threw away a match that was in their pocket for long periods. Stay tuned for the presentations..

Nikhil Chaudhary needs 4 to force a super-over, 6 to win outright

Akeal Hosein to Asif Mehmood, THATS OUT!! Stumped!!

Akeal Hosein to Aponso, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Akeal Hosein to Marco Jansen, THATS OUT!! Caught!!