‘Be ready to lose 1 more match’ – Fans react as Los Angeles Knight Riders gets knocked out of play-off race after back-to-back losses in MLC 2023

The Washington Freedom produced a dominant all-around effort that earned them crucial two points in an exciting contest against the Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket 2023 game 9. Notably, despite West Indies star Andre Russell’s valiant effort of 70 runs, which extended the innings to the 19th over and kept it close, it ended up being another day of heartbreak for the Sunil Narine-led LAKR. In addition, LAKR are now officially knocked out of the race for the playoffs and have been unable to claim a single victory so far in this edition.

Meanwhile, the great middle-order batter Andre Russell put up an unbelievable batting performance, but it was all in vain as they lost the game by six wickets. The 35-year-old batter produced a magnificent 70 runs off 37 deliveries at Morrisville’s Church Street Park.

Following his fantastic knock, the great all-rounder was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ award. “The body is good, most games in T20 you have to play with a niggle. I have perhaps played only 100 games fully fit,” Russell revealed his injuries during the post-match presentation.

Hope we can finish with a win and have a glass of orange juice: Andre Russell

“We still have one game to go, we will see how things are. I’m enjoying batting, but our team results are an issue. Hope we can finish strong, finish with a win and have a glass of orange juice for that. We still have a good unit, need to keep backing ourselves,” the power hitter further, hoping to win the last match of the tournament.

Earlier, the Washington Freedom won the toss and invited LAKR to bat first. After being put to bat, they posted a total of 175/7 in the given 20 overs. Following that, while chasing, the Washington Freedom comfortably prevailed in 18.1 overs, while the Knight Riders were powerless to defend the target.

On top of that, the Washington Freedom got off to a blazing start owing to a 68-run stand between great openers Matthew Short (43 off 35) and Andries Gous (40 off 15) in 5.2 overs for their first wicket. In addition, middle-order batters Glenn Phillips (29 off 19) and Obus Pienaar (26 off 17) also contributed to defeating the Knight Riders and knocking them out of the playoff race.

Check here to see how the fans have reacted: