San Francisco Unicorns start their MLC season 2 campaign with a thumping win over Sunil Narine-led Los Angeles Knight Riders. We hope you enjoyed our coverage, and thanks for tuning in from different parts of the globe. For now, this is Deepak Prakash signing off on behalf of co-commentator Akshay Bhide and scorer/analysts Ghanendra Singh Thakur and Ashok Dayma. CHEERS!
Corey Anderson (San Francisco Unicorns Captain): "I think you always dream of starts like this in franchise competitions. And yeah, it's nice to sit there and watch Finn and Shorty destroy some bowlers.
The boundaries aren't big, depending on where the pitch is on the block. I just think sometimes the wind gets up here, too, and the ball just seems to travel. There's not a lot of moisture at night, but it's almost enough that it feels like the ball carries and skids onto the bat a little better. So it's ideal for chasing, but at the same time, you still have to do a lot of work upfront as well.
I think the great thing about our lineup is that you probably don't need to talk to the top guys at the very top. Because the way they play the game is extremely aggressive, I think you have to let them utilize as much of that talent as possible. I know teams won't like it when it comes off on a day like this. So you have to let them express themselves, and you know that will come with some ups and downs. But you have to ride the wave on that.
Brady was outstanding today. I mean, anytime one of your domestic players steps up like that, it makes it so much easier to deal with everything else. It also puts you an extra step forward to winning."
Sunil Narine (Los Angeles Knight Riders Captain): "We had to take early wickets. We knew we were 20 runs short. But they came out all guns blazing in the powerplay and we didnβt have answers to that.
You have to think about your gameplan. They played well but I feel we could have bowled better and restricted them.
Itβs important to keep going for the batters. We got 160-odd in two games. If we get going, we will get to good totals while batting first.
Game plans are about match-ups. But I back myself in the decisions I make and unfortunately, it didn't work out tonight."
Finn Allen (Most Valuable Player of the Day): "Yeah, it was good. I think we probably took a little bit too long to get the pace of the wicket at the start. It's just something to focus on next time we come back here, but, yeah, we're all happy with the result.
Yeah, I mean, the way Shorty (Short) came out and struck the ball straight away definitely relieved a bit of pressure off me. I guess I could just get into the partnership with him and get into a bit of a zone."
Most Valuable Player of the Day - Finn Allen
Play of the Day - Finn Allen (3 consecutive sixes off Shakib Al Hasan)
Power Hitter of the Match - Andre Russell
Matthew Short:"Always good to start with a win. I was just trying to play my natural game. Just trying to have the aggressive nature.
It's nerve-wracking batting at three with Jake and Finn batting at the top. We want to play positive in this tournament and it's important for the boys to play their natural game.
That's the nature of the franchise tournament. The guys have been throughout the world. We love playing together. There's a joke in the dressing room of who can hit the longest six. But we are enjoying our time.
It's hard to read the wickets here. We were happy with 165. To be honest, the dew factor may come into play and the wicket got better. But our bowlers did well to restrict their hitters at the back end of the innings.
It was important to get the win. You want to start the tournament well in the seven-match tournament and carry forward the momentum."
Most catches in Men's T20s: 362 β Kieron Pollard (662 matches) 300 β David Miller (489 matches) 271 β Dwayne Bravo (573 matches) 252 β Jos Buttler (424 matches) 248 β Quinton de Kock (351 matches)