Gous and Ravindra lead Washington Freedom's charge

Andries Gous and Rachin Ravindra added 116 runs for the third wicket MLC

Washington Freedom 190 for 5 (Gous 96, Ravindra 60, Boult 2-33) beat MI New York 187 for 8 (Pooran 86, Netravalkar 2-29, Dwarshuis 2-29) by five wickets

Andries Gous fell four short of a century, while Rachin Ravindra struck 60 off just 30 balls as Washington Freedom breezed past MI New York by five wickets and moved to second on the MLC 2026 points table.

With both teams having already qualified for playoffs, Freedom sent MINY for a bat. They lost openers Quinton de Kock and Monank Patel inside the powerplay to Saurabh Netravalkar and Glenn Maxwell, respectively but captain Nicholas Pooran settled the innings. With Kunwarjeet Singh for company, Pooran raced to a half-century off 31 balls, by going 4, 4, 0, 6, 6 against Mitchell Owen.

Pooran added 90 off 50 balls for the third wicket with Kunwarjeet but aside from that, there was little of note in MINY's innings. Pooran recorded 86 off 44, falling at the start of the 16th over, lbw to Netravalkar. MINY collapsed thereon, managing just 37 runs in the last five overs to finish with 187 for 8. Netravalkar picked up 2 for 29 and so did Ben Dwarshuis in their four overs each.

Freedom got their chase off on the wrong foot. Owen was sent back by Shakib Al Hasan in the second over, while Trent Boult accounted for Steven Smith in the third as Freedom slipped to 13 for 2 in 2.2 overs. But Ravindra and Gous hardly gave MINY another chance, adding 116 runs in 68 balls for the third wicket. Ravindra struck five fours and two sixes during his 60, while Gous hammered four fours and eight sixes in his 54-ball 96.

Gous fell agonisingly short of a ton but not before almost taking Freedom to the doorstep of a win. Freedom registered victory in 18.3 overs.

Washington 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st11SPD SmithMJ Owen
2nd2SPD SmithR Ravindra
3rd116AGS GousR Ravindra
4th31AGS GousBJ Dwarshuis
5th16AGS GousN Chaudhary
6th14GJ MaxwellN Chaudhary