Following a tense victory against MI New York, Texas Super Kings secured their second consecutive win in MLC 2025 thanks to Noor Ahmad with a commanding triumph over LA Knight Riders on Sunday (June 15) in California. The team showcased a unified performance with both bat and ball, comfortably defeating LAKR by 57 runs.
Texas Super Kings set up a decent target
After being requested to bat first, TSK experienced a shaky beginning, with Faf du Plessis once again failing to make an impression. At one stage, he was batting on 2 runs off 8 balls, and although he attempted to rectify his performance with a six, Andre Russell responded with a flawless yorker that promptly knocked the stumps down on the very next delivery. Saiteja Mukkamalla’s brief but impactful innings, which included clearing the boundary twice, played a crucial role in TSK’s recovery during the powerplay. Devon Conway also contributed by finishing the phase with a couple of boundaries.
Conway, who scored a fifty in the previous match, appeared to be in excellent form once more, quickly reaching 34 runs off just 21 balls before being caught by the fielder at long off. Unfortunately, no other batsman managed to convert their starts into significant scores, as they all departed after getting off to decent beginnings. Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 36 turned out to be the highest score, despite the New Zealand player facing difficulties throughout his innings. At one point, he was on 13 runs off 18 balls, but he managed to redeem himself to some extent with a couple of boundaries in one over, ultimately needing a six from a scoop shot against Russell to elevate his strike rate above 100 in the final over.
Noor Ahmad does the work Texas Super Kings
With Mitchell facing difficulties, TSK would have found it challenging to reach 170 if not for Donovan Ferreira’s crucial cameo at the very end. Entering the game with fewer than five overs remaining, Ferreira struck an unbeaten 32 off merely 16 balls, which ensured that TSK set a competitive score. They complemented this with an excellent start with the ball, as Adam Milne dismissed Andre Fletcher plumb in front very early in the chase. Alex Hales attempted to inject some momentum with consecutive sixes, but he was dismissed shortly thereafter, and Noor Ahmad concluded the powerplay by taking Nitish Kumar’s wicket.
Suddenly, a target of 182 seemed daunting by the conclusion of the powerplay. The situation deteriorated rapidly as Stephen Wiig struck again, having already dismissed Hales earlier. Any hopes LAKR might have harbored for a turnaround in the latter half quickly disintegrated when TSK claimed three crucial wickets within the span of seven deliveries. First, Mitchell’s golden arm was evident once more as Unmukt Chand’s stumps were rearranged by a ball that kept low. Then, in the following over, Noor secured the two most significant wickets in the LAKR lineup, as both Russell and Sunil Narine mistimed their shots off consecutive deliveries, gifting the Afghan two additional wickets.
At 74/7, there was simply no way back for the chasing side with more than 100 to get. The tail wagged enough to get them past 120 before Milne put an end to LAKR’s misery with almost three overs to go in the innings. The impressive Noor finished with a four-wicket haul.
SCORECARD: Texas Super Kings 181/4 in 20 overs (Daryl Mitchell 36*, Devon Conway 34; Tanveer Sangha 2/32) beat Los Angeles Knight Riders 124 in 17.1 overs (Shadley van Schalkwyk 27; Noor Ahmad 4/25, Adam Milne 2/8) by 57 runs
