Nicholas Pooran stars as LA Knight Riders suffer first loss of MLC 2026

With a score of 144, MI New York extended their unbeaten record against the LA Knight Riders and handed them their first defeat of MLC 2026. New York has never beaten the Knight Riders, and that streak continued on Saturday (June 27) at the Oakland Coliseum as Jason Holder's team collapsed from 53/0 to 103 all out. Holder later admitted that the goal was doable, but that the team lacked sufficient partnerships in the beginning. None of LAKR's top eight players reached double digits, with the exception of openers Andre Fletcher (44), who batted until the 17th over. Nosthush Kenjige, a left-arm spinner, scythed through their middle order to halt the chase, while Corbin Bosch and the rest of the attack cleaned up the lower half, ending LAKR's pursuit quickly and dramatically. The surface wasn't exactly easy to bat on: earlier, MI New York had themselves dawdled to 144/6, spearheaded largely by captain Nicholas Pooran's 70. They also experienced frequent firings following Quinton de Kock's initial blitz; none of their partnerships lasted past 40. In the 12th over, Andre Russell hit Bosch and Kieron Pollard off consecutive balls, causing a middle-order slump. If it hadn't been for Pooran's disobedience, which got off to a sour start, things could have been much worse. Pooran's innings was a slowpoke for the first few overs. He pulled an Ali Khan bouncer for six after cruising to 9 off 21 to get going. Then, he briefly went silent again, but when Russell took two-in-two in the 12th over, leaving them at 76/5 at the end of it, Pooran was left with Romario Shepherd (20) to effect a turnaround. They briefly did so, until Shepherd became Russell's fourth victim. Pooran kept collecting boundaries, taking up most of the strike at the backend. The much-needed release came from Russell's back-to-back sixes in the 18th over, both of which were clubbed down the ground with the utmost disdain. The crowd was lavished with his signature flying kisses as the second man also mentioned turning fifty. In the innings break, Russell acknowledged that they "got away in the backend" as they approached 140. At first glance, LAKR appeared to be cruising effortlessly through. Munro cleared the leg-side twice in the second over of the chase, and by the sixth over, they were placed comfortably at 49/0. Munro's departure the following over, an unforced error caused by a run-out, brought about a damaging collapse. Kenjige defeated Unmukt Chand, repeating an earlier sweep that had scored four. When Sunil Narine attempted to replay his first-ball six to midwicket, he fell off his second ball and died. Following that, Shepherd sent a maiden over, transferring the pressure to the next one. Rovman Powell succumbed to that, stumped to give Kenjige his third wicket. LAKR quickly fell apart from a position of strength. They combusted in an effort to break free after two additional stingy overs. Saif Badar fell to Shepherd, popping a catch to short mid-on after a painful 12-ball three. Bosch followed up by cutting through Russell's stumps with a vicious off-cutter after cleaning up Holder. Between overs 10 and 15, they managed just seven runs and lost three wickets. With three sixes in four balls, Matthew Tromp and Fletcher attempted a valiant final act, but the pack-up occurred shortly thereafter. LAKR will play Seattle Orcas tomorrow, June 28, and they have an opportunity to quickly make amends.