Hassan Khan late fireworks powers San Francisco Unicorns to playoffs

San Francisco Unicorns won a game that went back and forth thanks to a late Hassan Khan blitz, chasing down 191 to knock Seattle Orcas out of the MLC 2026 playoffs race. The Unicorns appeared to be the favorite at 99/1 at tenth over. Finn Allen had teed off with his trademark leg-side hits and cruised to a fifty, while Matt Short had warmed up well. However, after Allen's dismissal, there was a lull, and despite having taken wickets, it appeared as though Unicorns might leave too little for the end. Jasdeep Singh slightly pushed his line in after two offside wides in a row and forced Short to go hard. He was only able to hole out to Marcus Stoinis, who was caught hard at cover. However, it was not Stoinis's best performance of the night. He made a stunning overhead catch at midfield in the fourth over of the chase to send Lhuan dre-Pretorius back. They couldn't get any runs in the next seven overs, and the Allen-Short duo appeared to be going to win. They managed 32 runs from the end of the 11th over to the 16th, slightly below the required rate, but the chase stalled a little. Even though he went from 27 (20) to 35 (31) in that time, short was the key. With 47 needed in the last four, Short crucially hit two fours in a row, but his dismissal threatened to swing the game once again. However, Hassan Khan had other ideas. In at six, he first clubbed back-to-back sixes against Tanveer Sangha in the 18th over, and then tore apart Stoinis, hitting six, four, four and six to sensationally seal the game. The first of those hits was a flawless lofted cover drive. Stoinis then tried three slow bouncers, but each one went over the fence, and Hassan won the semi-final spot for Unicorns. In stark contrast to his previous game, in which he recorded a five-fer, Stoinis finished with 0-48. In hindsight, Orcas were without Ottneil Baartman, the campaign's highest wicket-taker, who left for other commitments, as well as Dasun Shanaka. Orcas made a good fight out of it, but they couldn't have had as many on the board, if it weren't for Breetzke's breezy knock. They got going quickly, but when they reached 34/3, Breetzke and Shimron Hetmyer crucially came together to make a 65-run stand in 32 balls. Breetzke played expertly with the vacant spaces, hitting four sixes and three fours. In the 12th over, Aaron Hardie hit a stunning inside-out six. Hetmyer's innings was cut short by a sharp catch at long-on, with Xavier Bartlett intercepting a flat, forceful hit. Hetmyer, who was crouching on the pitch and kept staring in disbelief, and the fielder couldn't believe it either. Breetzke found company in skipper Stoinis, and despite scoring fifty in 24 balls, Breetzke was put under more pressure by Stoinis's slow start. Breetzke was dismissed by Peter Siddle, who had been brought in to break the stand. He was on 11 of 13. Drama followed as Ali Sheikh was run out the very next ball. Cameron Gannon backed up Stoinis with back-to-back sixes off Hardie to finish with 49 off 35. However, Breetzke believed they were "30 runs short" at the halfway point. That could have changed things in retrospect. The Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, and Washington Freedom have all qualified, in addition to the Unicorns, who currently hold the top spot in the standings.