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MI New York, of the Mumbai Indians’ conglomerate of teams worldwide, finished fourth in the inaugural MLC season last year but won three knockout ties as they defeated Seattle Orcas in the final in Texas.
DATE & TIME: Friday 5th July 2024: USA ET – 3:30pm / USA PT – 12:30pm / West Indies – 2:30pm / UK – 8:30pm / South Africa – 9:30pm / Saturday 6th July 2024: Pakistan – 12:30am / India – 1:00am / Bangladesh – 1:30am / Australia – 5:30am
VENUE: Church Street Park, Morrisville, North Carolina (United States)
WEATHER: 37c or 98.6 F with thunderstorms forecasted
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports / South Africa – ESPN / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – N/A
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: USA – Willow TV / West Indies – TBA / UK – TNT Sports app / South Africa – ESPN+ app / Pakistan – A Sports / India – TBA / Bangladesh – TBA / Australia – Amazon Prime Video
MI NEW YORK FORM: KNOWING HOW TO WIN
The Mumbai Indians franchise is the most successful in Indian Premier League history and they have off-the-field methods that make sure they are always in the best position to challenge. After squeezing through last year, they then enjoyed two fairly comfortable victories before what was a hammering of the Orcas at the Grand Prairie Stadium. There will be a desire to not having to rely on a ‘roll’ at the end and start their tournament well here.
LAST THREE: WWWLW
SEATTLE ORCAS FORM: OUT FOR REVENGE
In their five group stage matches last season, the Seattle Orcas finished at the top of the six-team table with five victories and just one defeat before an emphatic defeat of the Texas Super Kings in the Challenger. However, they were comfortably defeated and held back by an impressive MI New York bowling performance in the final so will seek revenge, believing they deserved the first Major League Cricket title.
LAST THREE: LWWLW
MI NEW YORK BETTING ANALYSIS
MI New York boast an impressive squad with several West Indian talents, such as captain Kieron Pollard as well as all-rounder Romario Shepherd. However, their best outlet with the bat will remain Nicholas Pooran and, after a decent ICC T20 World Cup, backing the 29-year-old Trinidadian to get off to a good start and be their best batter in this match is worth a bet.
As for the bowling department, they have plenty of options with Trent Boult and Rashid Khan headline names. One man that might be worth a bet to get two or more wickets, though, would be Anrich Nortje. He went into the aforementioned ICC T20 World Cup in poor form but played through that to enjoy an excellent campaign and should carry that through into MLC.
SEATTLE ORCAS BETTING ANALYSIS
The Seattle Orcas have a heavy South African presence in their side with captain Wayne Parnell alongside Nandre Burger, Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen. De Kock struggled for large parts of the World Cup before coming good but the best bet to be the Orcas’ best bat, on current form, has to be Heinrich Klaasen.
With the ball, the side coached by Pravin Amre, have a few pace options but the one man that has been consistently overlooked in this format for his country, Nathan Ellis, is one man that can be trusted in pretty much all franchise tournaments to go well and backing him to pick up two or more wickets looks a good shout.
MI NEW YORK VS SEATTLE ORCAS EXPERT PREDICTION
MI New York weren’t necessarily set up to win the opening season of this competition and yet they found a way to get through and then peak at the right time. The signings of Anrich Nortje and Romario Shepherd only boost them further, whilst there has been a fair bit of change in the Orcas squad that ended up finishing at the top of the league stage. It may well be a good value bet to side with the eventual 2024 winners in this one as Seattle try to settle into the tournament.
MI NEW YORK VS SEATTLE ORCAS TOP TIP: MI NEW YORK TO WIN