Well, this was it from the 15th fixture of the MLC between Texas Super Kings and LA Knight Riders. This is Utsav Chandak, signing off on behalf of Ajay Pal Singh and the scorer/analyst of the fixture, Yogesh Kumar. Thanks for staying with us till the end.
Faf du Plessis(Texas Super Kings Captain): "I have tried everything, do you have any tips(for toss). I called in the future South Africa test captain for toss in a previous game, so watch out for the future Texas captain walking out with me in the next one.
I felt this wicket was the same as the last couple of games we have played here. It is a bit slower and lower and the par score was around 180 here. Well, done to the two boys at the back, the way that they played and got us beyond the par score.
Yeah, that is the nature of the game. This is a really good pitch as we have seen in the last 2 games. The last day it went to 220 and you feel like, you have squeezed every last run from the surface, so when I say not so good, I mean that the wickets has been playing on you, 180 is still a very good score but just the nature of the pitch and the way that the ball has travelled, quite small on one side, so you feel like 200 is a par score.
I think the pleasing thing this year is that the local boys have stepped up, which was not the case last year. So you feel like, you have lots of options. From the batting perspective, I feel really confident with the guys to go out and put up some runs, because you want to pick your best bowling 11 on this pitch.
We started off the tournament really well, and even in the previous game we played really well, apart from the few dropped catches that gave the guys a chance to win the game. But it only counts when you win the game, so pleased to get things together and get a big win."
Donovan Ferreira (MVP): "Yeah, well I mean the wicket didn't look as good as it was the other day. It was a bit slower. We knew we had to bat deep and try to maximise the last 5 overs. We need to try and play good cricket shots and if you feel, you are set, take it on with the wind.
Just felt like everything clicked for me today. Fortunate to get a few boundaries early on. That one of Shadley was nice, everything was in sync. I just knew the moment it left the bat that it was big.
No, just because it went the furthest. The perfect length, the perfect swing and it just hit the middle of the bat, felt really good."
Most Valuable Player of the Match: Donovan Ferreira
Play of the Day: Akeal Hosein (Two wickets in a row)
Power Hitter of the Game: Donovan Ferreira
Time for the post-match presentation...
Jason Holder (Los Angeles Knight Riders Captain): "Yeah, I don't think it was anything different from what we have been asking the entire season. Lost two early wickets in the powerplay. Never got going and it was hard to get momentum in the middle stage. We had too much to do in the back end.
We have to be smarter. Few things haven't gone our way. We need to get partnerships to score a bit more in those middle overs.
We were poor in the backend as well today. Need to execute better. No excuses. Look, I think it wasn't great. Small things we can control, need to control better. I don't think we have been consistent with batting or bowling."
9:16AM IST, 10:46PM Local Time: Texas Super Kings have beaten LA Knight Riders by 52 runs.
And this is it, the fixture of the Major League Cricket match between Texas Super Kings and Los Angeles Knight Riders has come to an end. Jason Holder, captain of LA Knight Riders, won the toss and invited TSK to bat first. Faf du Plessis started off with a flurry of boundaries but couldn't hang on for long, which was followed by two further wickets falling in no time, putting them in a spot of bother.Smit Patel and Shubham Ranjane brought them back on track. Shubham Ranjane held his ground for longer, getting to his maiden half-century in MLC. He ended up with the highest score of 70 off 45 balls. He was assisted by Donovan Ferriera a 21 ball 43. A collapse at the end ensured that Texas Super Kings would post 196 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers with his four overs 37 runs and 3 wickets. Shadley van Schalkwyk took 3 early wickets but was dispatched later on in the innings and ended with the spell of 4 overs, 3 for 51 runs.
While chasing 197, LAKR batters could never keep up with the asking rate. Early wickets from Akeal Hosein put them completely off track. A run a ball 30 from Unmukt Chand and a string of low scores from the batters around, skyrocketed the asking rate. Rovman Powell hit a couple of sixes, but to no avail as the game was already castled by then. Akeal Hosein was the pick of the bowlers with his 3 overs 2 for just 10 runs. Noor Ahmad took 2 as well, giving away just 27 in his 4 overs.
Texas Super Kings have found their first home win, and they are back to winning ways with this mammoth victory. They go up to 8 points and sit pretty in the points table. At the same time, troubles have further increased for LA Knight Riders. They have lost 4 in the first 5 games, the batting has been a problem with no one stepping up other than Unmukt Chand. They have to get back to the drawing room and tweak their plans to get back to winning ways before it's too late.