MI London Cruise to Seven-Wicket Victory as Pooran and Curran Star
MI London completed a commanding seven-wicket win over Sunrisers at the Kia Oval, reaching their target of 144 with 16 deliveries remaining in front of a crowd of 20,540. Nicholas Pooran's unbeaten 58 from 22 deliveries was the centrepiece of the chase, supported by a composed 60 not out from 39 deliveries by captain Sam Curran, as the pair added an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership that sealed the match in emphatic fashion.
A Difficult Start for MI London
The chase began under pressure. Brydon Carse made an immediate impact with the new ball, removing Will Jacks in the sixth delivery of the innings — caught by Benny Howell at cover after an attempted heave — and then claiming the wicket of Jason Roy, who edged to Mitchell Marsh at slip for a duck. Roy was dismissed on his 36th birthday, caught off a delivery that seamed away sharply. Carse finished with figures of 2 for 18 from his 20 deliveries, proving the most effective of the Sunrisers bowlers.
MI London were reduced to 8 for 2 inside the first ten deliveries, with James Vince and Sam Curran then tasked with steadying the innings. The pair worked through a difficult early phase, with Carse maintaining a testing line at high pace and Matthew Potts adding consistent pressure from the other end. By the end of the 15th delivery, MI had managed only 9 runs and still needed 135 from 85 deliveries.
Vince and Curran Stabilise the Chase
Vince and Curran began rebuilding steadily, rotating the strike and picking off boundaries when the opportunity arose. Vince struck a short-arm pull off Potts for four and then edged another through backward point, while Curran found his timing with a boundary through extra cover off Nathan Ellis. The partnership slowly accumulated, giving MI London a platform heading into the middle overs.
However, Vince's stay ended when Nathan Ellis returned and bowled him for 17, the delivery nipping back in at pace to remove off stump. MI London were 51 for 3 after 44 deliveries, with 93 still needed from 56. Nicholas Pooran walked in at that point.
Pooran Takes Control
Pooran's arrival changed the shape of the chase. He required only three deliveries to register his first boundary, and from that moment Sunrisers had no effective response. Against Benny Howell, Pooran struck three boundaries in quick succession — a pulled four to fine leg, a six over long on, and another four off a quicker delivery angled into the pads. The two left-handers, Pooran and Curran, accumulated 37 runs from just 16 deliveries as a partnership during that phase.
Curran, already well-set, provided a counterpoint to Pooran's aggression. He struck Abrar Ahmed for a six over straight midwicket and followed it with a composed fifty from 34 deliveries, reaching the landmark with a skewed two. His fifty was described at the time as a proper captain's knock, and it anchored the innings while Pooran accelerated at the other end.
Pooran reached his fifty from just 19 deliveries — the fastest half-century in the franchise's history across both their current identity and their previous guise as Oval Invincibles. Two successive sixes off Abrar Ahmed, one swept high over square leg and one slapped over long on, announced his arrival at that milestone emphatically. A ball change was made at that stage, with 17 needed from 25 deliveries.
The Final Stages
With MI London firmly in control, Curran continued to find the boundary. He launched a full toss from Matthew Potts over wide long on for six, and an inside edge off a wide yorker ran fine for four. Pooran added a tickled four off Ellis to fine leg before the winning boundary arrived: a drive from Pooran beyond mid off off Potts that completed the victory by seven wickets with 16 deliveries unused.
Pooran finished on 58 not out from 22 deliveries, his innings containing four fours and five sixes. Curran remained unbeaten on 60 from 39 deliveries, with five fours and two sixes. The pair had put on their match-winning stand from the moment MI were three down, building it across 40 deliveries.
In his post-match remarks, Pooran acknowledged that the side had found the pitch slow initially but felt confident once the floodlights came on and the ball began to skid through more readily. He also noted the importance of the foundation Curran and Vince had provided before his arrival. Curran, reflecting on the opposition's innings, acknowledged the quality of Pooran's knock from the perspective of someone who had faced similar players in similar situations before.
For Sunrisers, the defeat was a difficult one to absorb given the promising start their bowlers made. Carse's early double-wicket burst gave them a genuine foothold, and at 51 for 3, the match was still open. But the failure to claim further wickets in the middle overs and the inability of their slower bowlers to contain the two set left-handers proved decisive. Howell and Abrar Ahmed went wicketless, as did Potts, Lawrence and Ellis after his initial success.
MI London move on from this result with considerable confidence, having chased down their target with authority once the partnership between Pooran and Curran was established.
