Washington Freedom pulled off a historic victory in the Eliminator of MLC 2026 at the Oakland Coliseum, successfully chasing down a massive 266-run target to defeat defending champions MI New York by six wickets. The match saw a record-breaking 51 sixes and featured a 241-run partnership, the joint second-biggest in T20 history, between Andries Gous and Steve Smith. Gous scored 132 while Smith remained unbeaten on 110, as the pair reached the target with eight balls to spare, eclipsing the previous domestic/franchise record set by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in 2016.
MI New York had set a formidable total of 266/9, driven by a blistering 106 from Nicholas Pooran, who nearly broke the record for the fastest T20 century. Kieron Pollard added 64 and Quinton de Kock contributed 51. However, Rachin Ravindra proved to be the turning point for Washington Freedom, delivering a crucial spell of 4 for 29 that stifled MI New York's late-innings momentum. Ravindra took the wickets of Tajinder Dhillon, Shakib Al Hasan, Romario Shepherd, and Kunwarjeet Singh, limiting MI New York to just 33 runs from their final five overs.
The chase was marked by a series of dropped catches by MI New York, including spills by Shakib Al Hasan, Kieron Pollard, and Nostush Kenjige. Because this was modern T20 batting on a flat surface and skewed boundary sizes at its absolute best, dealt almost entirely in sixes. Gous and Smith capitalized on these errors, until they began putting down catches, particularly in the 13th, 14th, and 15th overs, where they hammered 81 runs. Gous smashed four consecutive sixes off Romario Shepherd, while Pollard left the field with a dislocated finger after dropping a catch. Both Gous and Smith completed their centuries in exactly 40 balls. At the end of 13 overs of their innings they had 211 on the board, with Pollard batting on 42 off 14. With this performance, Gous became the first American player to score an MLC hundred, and Smith recorded his fastest-ever T20 century. Despite MI New York hitting a record 29 sixes in their innings, the brilliance of the Freedom partnership ensured the defending champions were knocked out of the tournament.
