Washington Freedom
MI New York
If we were to name the most important match of this tournament apart from the final, it would be this forthcoming match between MI New York and Washington Freedom on Monday. This game is a must-win match for both teams, who need to get those two points in order to qualify for the knockout stages. The match will be played in the Church Street Park Stadium in Morrisville. This match will more or less finalize the four teams that will go to the knockout stages of the inaugural season of Major League Cricket.
The tournament has not been a good experience for each of these teams, as they have lost crucial matches and now find themselves in a precarious situation. MI New York is placed fourth with just 2 points in three games, whereas the Washington Freedom also have 2 points in two games and are placed fifth. Tim David has been a positive for MI New York and has been their highest run-scorer till now.
As for Washington Freedom, nothing great has happened till now except that Akeal Hosein has taken 3 wickets in 2 matches. Below are the match predictions and probable playing 11 for this all-important encounter between MI New York and Washington Freedom on Monday in Morrisville. The top bookmakers in India have odds with them on their platforms.
Washington FreedomMI New YorkMI New York’s problem has been their batting department and the lack of runs on the board for the bowlers to defend. This problem was predicted by cricket experts earlier, when their squad was released. Their top order lacks overseas experience, and domestic players have that responsibility. We can see some changes in the batting order as someone like Nicholas Pooran or even Rashid Khan will come up the order to bat.
Any changes in their playing 11 are not expected
Predicted Lineup: Steven Taylor, Shayan Jahangir, Monank Patel, Hammad Azam, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Tim David, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Trent Boult, and Ehsan Adil
They had a good previous match against the Texas Super Kings, where they posted a challenging total on the board and the bowlers successfully defended it. It was a complete team performance for the Washington-based franchise. They are expected to go in with the same playing 11 in the match against MI New York, except they could bring in someone like Adam Milne in place of Marco Jansen to have more pace in the bowling.
They could bring in someone like Adam Milne in place of Marco Jansen to have more pace in the bowling.
Predicted Lineup: Matthew Short, Andries Gous (wk), Mukhtar Ahmed, Glenn Phillips, Moises Henriques (c), Obus Pienaar, Marco Jansen/Adam Milne, Akeal Hosein, Dane Piedt, Anrich Nortje, and Saurabh Netravalkar
This match is a long-awaited one in this exciting inaugural season of Major League Cricket. The fate of both of these teams still lies in their hands in this tournament, and the winner will almost certainly book their playoff berth in the tournament. On paper, MI New York feels like a better and stronger team. They have a good mix of experienced players in their ranks who have played in these situations a million times. The Washington Freedom are not a team that will cut loose, but we expect MI New York to prevail in this upcoming match.
