MLC 2025 | MI NY vs SEO Match Preview: Bottom dwellers aim to revive flailing campaigns

‌MI New York and Seattle Orcas have another chance to bring their campaign back on track when both sides meet for the second time in the Major League Cricket 2025 season at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Saturday. MI NY are placed fourth in the points table with two points from a solitary win, that came against the same opposition, in five matches while SEO are yet to open their account this season.

MI NY come into the contest after their loss to table toppers San Francisco Unicorns in a high-scoring game on Tuesday. Openers Quinton de Kock and Monank Patel’s quickfire half-centuries and the duo’s 119-run partnership during the chase were the bright spots in the 47-run thrashing they suffered against SFU.

Monank is also on top of the MI NY run-scoring charts, and third overall, with a tally of 267 runs from five matches, including three fifties, at an impressive average of 53.40 and a strike rate of 165.83. Meanwhile, de Kock has also hit three fifties scoring 210 runs this season to be on eighth in the list. In bowling, Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has been at the forefront of the MI NY attack with eight wickets from five games.

Seattle Orcas step into the contest after yet another thrashing from SFU on Thursday and need to drastically improve their showing on all fronts to notch up their first win in the campaign. The batting has been a let down with Kyle Mayers being their top-scorer with 129 runs in five games. However, left arm spinner Harmeet Singh has had a decent outing this year with seven wickets from five matches averaging 17.71 at an economy of 7.75.

Form Guide

MI NY Form: LLWLL

SEO Form: LLLLL

MI NY vs SEO head-to-head in MLC

MI New York hold an upper hand over Seattle Orcas winning three of the four games between both sides in Major League Cricket with Seattle failing to repeat the feat after a win in the inaugural duel in MLC 2023. SEO also lost the final of the MLC that year to the same opponents. The trend continued this year as well with MI NY convincingly beating SEO by seven wickets last week.

MI NY 3 - 1 SEO

Pitch and Conditions

The Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas has continued to be a batter’s paradise with high-scoring games being a consistent feature at the venue this year. The last game also saw both sides go past the 200-run mark in a nail-biting thriller which Washington Freedom won in the last ball. The shorter boundaries and quick outfield, in addition to the flat track, has helped batters to score big forcing captains to chase down targets with five of the eight games being won by sides batting second.

It will be a cloudy evening in Dallas with the temperatures expected to be around 25 degrees. The chances of rain are also less at 3% with the viewers set to enjoy some high-octane cricketing action.

Team News

MI New York are expected to start with the same eleven as in the previous game while Seattle may replace left-arm pacer Obed McCoy with Fazalhaq Farooqi in a like-for-like change.

MI NY Expected XI

Nicholas Pooran (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Monank Patel, Kieron Pollard, Michael Bracewell, Tajinder Singh, Sunny Patel, Heath Richards, Trent Boult, Naveen-ul-Haq, Nosthush Kenjige

SEO Expected XI

Shayan Jahangir (wk), David Warner, Kyle Mayers, Heinrich Klaasen (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Sujit Nayak, Gerald Coetzee, Cameron Gannon, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Broadcasting Platforms 

The MI NY vs SEO MLC 2025 match will be digitally streamed on the Jio Hotstar app and website in India with the telecast of the same on the Star Sports Network from 5:30 AM IST on Saturday.