Shanaka's all-round brilliance helped Seattle Orcas chase down 217

A stunning blitz from Dasun Shanaka helped Seattle Orcas open their account in MLC 2026 as they picked up a five-wicket win over Washington Freedom. Shanaka came to the crease at a tricky time for the chasing side after their near-perfect innings was derailed by a flurry of wickets. But the Sri Lankan allrounder managed to smash an unbeaten 36 off a mere 12 deliveries to ease the nerves and seal a comfortable win in the end. As a 200-plus total was pursued once more, Orcas ultimately suffered a loss similar to the one they suffered in the tournament opener just 24 hours earlier. In his brilliant 25-ball 61, Mitchell Owen, who warmed the bench in IPL 2026, got off to a fast start and hit 10 boundaries. However, despite Freedom scoring 82 in the Powerplay, skipper Steve Smith struggled at the other end. Shanaka then made the crucial breakthough as he got rid of Owen before following it up with Smith's wicket as well. Once those two departed, Mark Chapman took charge alongside Andries Gous. Chapman in particular was in murderous mood, flaying the bowlers to all parts of the ground enroute to a rapid fifty. They were at 175/2 at the end of 14 overs, and a total close to 250 seemed like a real possibility. However, Gous and Glenn Maxwell were stumped by Ottneil Baartman in consecutive deliveries, which completely halted the innings' momentum. With Chapman also departing the very next over, the innings witnessed a stunning turnaround. In the end, they lost eight wickets in the final six overs and were bowled out for 216, a total that appeared strong but was clearly insufficient given Orcas' initial performance. Seifert, who smashed a century in a losing cause just 24 hours earlier, was at it again this time. He hammered three fours and a six in the very first over of the chase against Marco Jansen and picked on Lockie Ferguson as well. Shayan Jahangir, his opening partner who also caused mayhem in the last game, got off to a fine start as the openers knocked off 52 runs in just 3.1 overs. After that, Jahangir succumbed out of the blue, but Matthew Breetzke and Seifert won the match with yet another blistering partnership. Seifert went 4, 6, 6, 6 to smash 28 off Owen in an over, putting Orcas completely on top of the contest after Seifert reached his fifty with a six. After 9 overs, they were coasting at 123/1. In his quest for back-to-back hundreds, Seifert fell by finding the fielder in the deep but Breetzke welcomed Maxwell to the attack with a 18-run over to go past fifty. Orcas then stuttered for a brief period, suffering a collapse similar to the one witnessed in the first innings as three batters made their way to the pavilion in the space of nine deliveries. Any hopes Freedom had of pulling off a stunning comeback evaporated real quick when Shanaka hammered successive sixes off Ferguson. Jansen, who endured a torrid evening, couldn't do much against the marauding Sri Lankan as he too ended up conceding boundaries as Orcas got the job done with 14 balls to spare.