Texas Super Kings vs Washington Freedom, MLC 2023, Today Match Prediction 17 July 2023

tsk vs waf Match Prediction & Analysis

The Major League Cricket is underway and some of the biggest T20 stars have already made a mark in the first few games. Texas Super Kings will be taking on Washington Freedom at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas.

Kings have kicked off their MLC campaign with a convincing 69-run win over the Knight Riders in the opening game of the season. Not only do they pack a strong punch in the batting lineup but the bowlers have also shown great promise.

Washington Freedom, on the other hand, suffered a loss in their opening match against Seattle Orcas. After losing early wickets, Glenn Phillips and Moises Henriques failed to rebuild the innings in the middle.

Both teams feature South African bowlers in their bowling attack. Anrich Nortje is the key bowler to watch out for in the Washington side. In Texas Super Kings, Mohammad Mohsin, an uncapped leg-break bowler from Pakistan cleaned up the Knight Riders’ tail. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Texas Super Kings Preview

Faf du Plessis is back to his previous franchise but in a new team and a new league. He led the side to a big win in the opening match and will be looking to continue the dominance as they face Washington Freedom at the same venue.

There is enough firepower in this batting lineup of the Super Kings. Conway and Faf du Plessis is as good an opening combination as can be. But they will be facing Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen in the powerplay.

The skipper was out for a golden duck in his first MLC game and will be eager to score some runs at the top. Conway looks in fine touch as he scored 55 off 37 balls and was part of the 77-run partnership with David Miller for the 3rd wicket. Mitchell Santner and DJ Bravo add depth to the batting lineup.

They can be the finishers for the Super Kings and score quick runs at the death. Lahiru Milantha and Milind Kumar are other key players who couldn’t get going in the middle order and will be eager to make their mark in this match.

In addition to Mohammad Mohsin, Texas have Gerald Coetzee, Rusty Theron, and DJ Bravo in the bowling attack. Bravo has plenty of experience and has picked over 400 T20 wickets. He makes a big difference to the bowling attack. Theron is a death-overs specialist in the South African domestic circuit and will be one to watch out for.

Texas Super Kings Predicted Playing XI:

Faf du Plessis (c), Devon Conway (wk), Lahiru Milantha, David Miller, Milind Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Calvin Savage , Gerald Coetzee, Mohammad Mohsin, Rusty Theron

Texas Super Kings Actual Playing XI:

Mitchell Santner, Devon Conway, Milind Kumar, Faf du Plessis, Calvin Savage, Gerald Coetzee, Lahiru Milantha, Dwayne Bravo, Rusty Theron, David Miller, Mohammad Mohsin

Washington Freedom Preview

Washington Freedom will be out to get their first winning points of the season. In spite of a star-studded lineup, they were restricted to just 144 runs batting first. Matthew Short is an experienced batter who’s played plenty of T20 cricket in the BBL and will be expected to bounceback in this game. 

Mukhtar Ahmed, a right-hand batsman from Pakistan who’s played 6 T20 internationals was seen batting at number 3 for Washington. In his short international career, he had a strike rate of 143. The quick dismissals of Short and Ahmed put Washington on the backfoot and the NZ star batter Glenn Phillips and skipper Moises Henriques failed to convert their starts in the middle order.

Washington could just never bounce back in the game and ended up with a below-par score. Akeal Hossein’s 33 off 22 balls turned out to be a very handy innings at number 8 and it shows the depth in the Washington batting order.

Obus Pienaar and Marco Jansen are other bowling all-rounders to watch out for in the lower order. Though it looks like a deep batting lineup, we reckon most of the scoring would depend on the top and middle order. 

In the bowling department, Anrich Nortje will lead the pace attack along with Marco Jansen and Saurabh Netravalkar. Skipper and batting all-rounder Henriques is also a handy bowler and can deliver a breakthrough. 

Washington Freedom Predicted Playing XI:

Matthew Short, Mukhtar Ahmed, Andries Gous (wk), Moises Henriques (c), Obus Pienaar, Marco Jansen, Glenn Phillips, Dane Piedt, Anrich Nortje, Saurabh Netravalkar, Akeal Hosein

Washington Freedom Actual Playing XI:

Saurabh Netravalkar, Anrich Nortje, Akeal Hosein, Matthew Short, Marco Jansen, Glenn Phillips, Obus Pienaar, Andries Gous, Mukhtar Ahmed, Moises Henriques, Dane Piedt

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch is quite batting-friendly which also offers some help for the spinners. If a spinner can get more revs on the ball, they would stand to benefit on this pitch. There will be scattered thunderstorms in Dallas on the match day. By the time the match begins, it is likely to stop raining but the weather would be cloudy.

Venue Details

Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas is one of the only two venues that will be hosting the MLC this year. It has hosted 3 games so far and there will be a few more matches here before MLC moves to Morrisville. There have been some high scores on this ground so far and we reckon the match-winning total for the team batting first should be 185 or above.

Toss: To Bat

So far, teams batting first have won 2 of the 3 matches, and looking at the recent match between New York and San Francisco, we reckon, batting first and putting up a competitive score would be a far better strategy.