MI London 144 for 3 (Curran 60*, Pooran 58*) beat Sunrisers Leeds 143 (Gleeson 4-25) by seven wickets
Curran showed all his nous in making an unbeaten 60 from 39 balls, while Pooran (58* from 22) was in electrifying form as he posted a 19-ball fifty, the fastest in the history of the Oval-based franchise.
Defending a modest total of 143, the Sunrisers had made a promising start. Brydon Carse bowled upwards of 90mph in a fiery opening spell, bamboozling Will Jacks and nicking off birthday boy Jason Roy to leave MI London wobbling at 4 for 2.
And when James Vince was cleaned up by Nathan Ellis, the Aussie sending his middle stump cartwheeling with a peach of an inducker to leave the score 51 for 3 after 44 balls, the Sunrisers looked marginal favourites.
But that dismissal brought Pooran to the crease and the Trinidadian left-hander was in inspired form, blitzing two fours and a six in the space of three balls from Benny Howell as he quickly found his stride. Alongside Curran, who hit five fours and three sixes, Pooran inflicted an opening-night defeat on the franchise he represented in 2024 under their former name of Northern Superchargers.
Earlier in the evening the Sunrisers opening pair of Ryan Rickelton and Mitch Marsh had made a rapid start after MI London won the toss and elected to field, Rickelton hitting three sixes in the space of five deliveries and following up by cutting Richard Gleeson for four before succumbing lbw to Sam Curran soon after.
Harry Brook gave a glimpse of his shotmaking ability, hitting Rashid Khan for a straight six, but the England white-ball skipper fell to the Afghanistan leg-spinner’s next delivery, caught on the fence by Nathan Sowter as he sought another maximum.
Marsh motored on, hitting three sixes in his 27-ball 41, but when he spooned a Tom Curran delivery to brother Sam at cover, the Sunrisers badly lost their way.
Gleeson tore through the middle order, dismissing Dan Lawrence, Zak Crawley and Howell in quick succession and it took a sprightly cameo from Tom Alsop (31 from 18) to drag them to 143. The impressive Gleeson wrapped up the innings a ball short of the 100, nicking off Ellis to finish with 4 for 25.
Pooran, the Meerkat Match Hero, said of his partnership with Curran: “Sam was set and we just tried to stay as positive as we could. It was all about hitting a couple to the boundary and trying to take that partnership all the way through to the end.”
On having his wife and daughter in the crowd, he added: “It was nice to have them here, to score a fifty and send a kiss to them. I know they will be really happy. This year has been a really challenging year for me personally when it comes to batting so I’m just really happy to have the opportunity to continue to do what I love to do.”
