Narine, Holder lead LA Knight Riders to maiden MLC title

Sunil Narine and Jason Holder, with a staggering 1000+ T20 wickets between them, crushed Washington Freedom under the weight of their experience to deliver LA Knight Riders their maiden MLC title at the Oakland Coliseum. After the trophy exchanged hands between MI New York and Washington Freedom in the first three seasons, the Knight Riders broke a potential duopoly with a big bowling performance on the biggest night. Obus Pienaar, with a cameo for the ages, nearly sullied all of those efforts, but even his 24-ball 53 that dragged the chase to the very end wasn't enough.

The Knight Riders only had 164 to defend (more on that later). Holder trusted Narine to make that seem bigger than it was, and the champion spinner came through. For the third time in as many encounters, Narine dismissed Mitchell Owen, who tried to go big but hit to the Knight Riders skipper at mid-off. He then got Rachin Ravindra to top-edge a sweep to short fine leg. Steve Smith, fresh off an incredible century in the Eliminator and whirlwind 43 in the Challenger, was cleaned up from round the stump for just 8, pushing Freedom to 29/3.

The responsibility of resurrecting the chase fell on Andries Gous, Freedom's best batter with a season tally already past 500. All through the middle overs, he flexed those lofty credentials. He revived the chase in the company of Nikhil Chaudhary but the ball was still not coming on well and a pensive-looking Ricky Ponting watched on as the asking rate climbed. The duo added 65 off 52 until Holder ensured Narine's early efforts weren't just a consolation to take back. Chaudhary became Holder's 400th T20 wicket when he hit a low full-toss to Unmukt Chand at cover. Freedom sent out Ben Dwarshuis at four down, but Holder added to a string of double-wicket overs by having the Aussie caught a deep mid-wicket with a slow bouncer.

Freedom and Knight Riders entered the death overs with contrasting moods - the former's dugout all tensed up while Holder's men were pumped with belief that their first playoffs appearance in MLC history could translate to a title win. That idea took stronger shape when Gous fell attempting an awkward reverse-scoop off Holder, chipping the ball to Russell at cover point. Pienaar then arrived with a no-holds barred attitude, and struck a few big sixes to bring Ponting to the edge of his seat and put the Knight Riders on their toes.

63 off 30 was down to 44 off 18, still keeping Knight Riders ahead. Then Pienaar slammed two big sixes off Shadley van Shalkwyk to drag the equation down to 29 off 12. Another massive over in the 19th, with 15 runs in it, meant Freedom were 14 off 6 away from an unforgettable title victory. Pienaar dwarfed that even further with a first-ball six in the final over. But Van Shalkwyk bit back with a scrambled-seam yorker that cleaned him up and turned the game one more time. Ian Holland then holed out to Holder at long-off. Lockie Ferguson then found the fence to push the game down to 2 off 1. Lahiru Milantha scrambled back but failed as a run-out gave the season finale a jaw-dropping finish.

Hours before the Knight Riders players ran helter-skelter and celebrated a trophy, they were hamstrung by Freedom's bowlers in the middle and death overs. Colin Munro led the way in the Powerplay as he and Andre Fletcher added 54. But a trend that began in the eighth over, kept up all through their innings. It started with Chaudhary dismissing Fletcher and then cleaning up Andre Russell for a duck with a peach - the first of the three double-wicket overs. Munro and Matthew Tromp took four sixes off the spinner in his next to guide the side to 101/2 in 10 overs. But the next blow came from Rachin Ravindra, who had Munro caught at long-off and then cleaned up a promoted Narine in the same over.

The impressive Tromp continued to hit cleanly though, as he took on Ravindra in his following over. That was followed however, by Ben Dwarshuis's double-wicket over, where he saw the back of Tromp and Rovman Powell too. From a position of strength midway through, the Knight Riders fell to 136/6 in 15 overs. Dwarshuis's third wicket was Holder, who slammed a shot back at the bowler. The Aussie took evasive action and got lucky as the ball ricocheted off his body and fell towards his hands for him to pouch it. Saif Badar slammed a six off Mitchell Owen in the final over but the Aussie wrapped up the innings by dismissing him and Ali Khan. Knight Riders went into the innings break needing a special bowling effort. Narine and Holder then led the way.

Brief Scores: Los Angeles Knight Riders 164 in 19.4 overs (Andre Fletcher 47 off 27, Colin Munro 40 off 29, Matthew Tromp 39 off 21; Ben Dwarshuis 3-31, Rachin Ravindra 2-23, Nikhil Chaudhary 2-32) beat Washington Freedom 163/9 in 20 overs (Obus Pienaar 53 off 24; Sunil Narine 3-13, Jason Holder 3-31) by 1 run