Major League Cricket 2023: Daniel Sams Powers Texas Super Kings Into Playoffs Stage, WATCH

The Texas Super Kings (TSK) sealed a place in the Major League Cricket playoffs after pulling off a three-wicket victory over San Francisco Unicorns (SFU) on Monday. The Super Kings, who are sister franchise of MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK), moved to the second spot on the points table following their victory, meanwhile, the Unicorns remained in fifth place. The Texas Super Kings restricted the San Francisco Unicorns to 171/8 before chasing down their total in 19.1 overs.

The Texas Super Kings didn’t get off to the best of starts with the bat. Carmi le Roux trapped Captain Faf du Plessis for a duck in the opening over and Cody Chetty fell to Haris Rauf for 4 runs off 5 balls in the second over. Devon Conway tried to gain momentum for the Super Kings, but he was stumped for 30 runs off 27 balls by Shadab Khan in the ninth over.

Milind Kumar struck a couple of boundaries off Marcus Stoinis's bowling in the tenth over, but he kept losing partners at the other end as the Super Kings were reduced to 92/5 in 13.1 overs. However, Daniel Sams walked into bat and provided the perfect company to Milind Kumar. The duo strung a partnership of 70 runs off just 26 balls to take the Super Kings to 162/6 in 17.3 overs.

It was a sea of ______ _ _ _ The Texas Super Kings pulled off a massive victory to quality for the #MLCPlayoffs!!!#MajorLeagueCricket pic.twitter.com/dLDgj73KjJ — Major League Cricket (@MLCricket) July 25, 2023

However, the Unicorns stayed in the game by dismissing Kumar and Sams in the eighteenth and nineteenth overs respectively. But Calvin Savage smashed a maximum off Stoinis' bowling in the last delivery of the penultimate over to ensure that the Super Kings walked off the field as winners of the game.

Earlier in the day, the Unicorns won the toss and decided to bat first. Finn Allen started the Unicorns’ innings with a boundary, but Sams sent him packing in the third delivery of the first over. Marcus Stoinis also didn’t last too long as he was dismissed by Gerald Coetzee for 13 runs off 12 balls in the fourth over. The Unicorns were in a spot of bother at 31/2.

Matthew Wade played a brilliant knock of 49 runs off 30 balls to take his side to 85/3 in 10.2 overs, but thereafter, the Unicorns kept losing wickets at regular intervals. However, Chaitanya Bishnoi's cameo of 35 runs off 21 balls, laced with three boundaries and two sixes, helped the Unicorns post a decent total in their 20 overs.

Brief Scores: Texas Super Kings 172/7 (Milind Kumar 52, Daniel Sams 42, Haris Rauf 2/32) bt San Francisco Unicorns 171/8 (Matthew Wade 49, Chaitanya Bishnoi 35, Gerald Coetzee 4/31) by three wickets