Gous, Ravindra powers Washington Freedom to victory over MI New York

Rachin Ravindra's 60 off 30 and Andries Gous's 54-ball 96 helped Washington Freedom defeat MI New York by five wickets. Freedom moved up to second place in the points table and will wait to see how the game between TSK and LAKR goes to see if they can stay there and still have a chance of making the final. Nicholas Pooran, the captain, batted a ferocious 86 off 44 balls, including 8 sixes, to propel his team to 187 for 6, despite the fact that the majority of the MINY batters failed to make much of an impression. Gous (4 fours, 8 sixes) and Ravindra (5 fours, 2 sixes) put on a 116-run stand in less than 12 overs to set up Freedom's successful chase, but his knock was in vain. Asked to bat first, MINY lost Quinton de Kock in the first over when he mistimed a pull from Saurabh Netravalkar. Monak Patel hit a few boundaries before falling to Glenn Maxwell in the fifth over, leaving his team at 31 for 2. Pooran then hit a four and a six off Maxwell, who completed his spell inside the Powerplay, finishing with 1 for 35 as MINY moved to 52 for 2. Pooran also scored a six off Mitchell Owen, and Kunwarjeet Singh scored a boundary off Nikhil Chaudhary, putting MINY at 75 for 2 at halftime. When Pooran stepped on the gas pedal, he was on 30 off 25 when he hit two fours and two sixes off Mitchell Owen for a 31-ball fifty. Ben Dwarshuis also hit a six for Kunwarjeet, and Pooran also hit sixes. The 90-run third wicket partnership came to an end when Kunwarjeet was bowled by Ian Holland on 26. Pooran, however, was unstoppable as he scored 150 runs in 15 overs, including two sixes off Chaudhary, a maximum, and a four off Owen. Nevertheless, he was run out by Netravalkar, and as a result, MINY lost five wickets for 37 runs, just shy of 190. In the first over of the chase, Owen hit a six off Trent Boult, but Freedom were soon in trouble when Shakib Al Hasan got the first ball and Steven Smith got out to Boult. The first five overs yielded only 29 before Gous and Ravindra got going in Ehsan Adil's over, getting 15 off it to help Freedom end the Powerplay at 44 for 2. After that, both batters regularly cleared the ropes, bringing their team's total to 83 for 2 after 10 innings. Before Ravindra hit three fours off Boult, the first of which helped him to a 26-ball fifty, the 100 came up in the 12th over. After that, Gous struck two sixes off Rushil Ugarkar, the first of which was his fifty in 38 balls. However, Ravindra failed to clear the ropes in the same over, resulting in the end of the third wicket stand. Gous continued the attack with two more sixes off Adil and two more fours in Romario Shepherd's over to bring his team closer. Freedom won in 18.3 overs despite Maxwell's absence until the very end, when he was out four short of a hundred.