Sunrisers Leeds vs MI London Match 1 Full Commentary

We are back for the all-important chase. The umpires are out in the middle as Zak Crawley leads the players of Sunrisers Leeds out to the middle. It will be the pairing of James Vince and Will Jacks to open the innings for MI London. Brydon Carse will take the new ball for the Sunrisers. Let's play...

... The Run Chase ...

An interesting chase ahead - The MI London bowlers showed real craft and discipline, mixing their variations smartly, and the Curran brothers in particular ran their spells beautifully from start to finish. But as has become the trend at The Oval, defending anything here is easier said than done, and it will take a full team effort from the Sunrisers' bowling unit to keep a stacked MI London batting lineup from chasing this down. They do have the weapons like Ellis and Abrar in their armoury who, on their given day, can shake any batting unit through their own bag of tricks. A very interesting chase coming up. Stay tuned.

MI London's star with the ball - Richard Gleeson says it is always nice to contribute, and hopefully they can get over the line with the bat. Adds that when you come to the Oval, you expect there to be true bounce, which he tried to exploit. Jokes that they need to hit 4s and 6s, and not get out, but then goes on to say that their batters have a lot of experience playing at this venue.

Punch and counterpunch throughout - The Sunrisers rose to a positive start through the blitz of Ryan Rickelton, who looked in a destructive mood, but his stay was cut short by Sam Curran. And with Brook's fall soon after, 40/0 became 55/2. The pitch stayed friendly, just enough zip off the surface to keep the bowlers interested. Mitchell Marsh strolled in and eased his way through the early overs. Then, right as he started eyeing the accelerator, Tom Curran slammed on the brakes. Everything unravelled from there for the Sunrisers before Tom Alsop played the rescue act down the order. Still, with no steady partner at the other end, MI London kept chipping away at the wickets. Richard Gleeson was the architect of the collapse, who ended with a four-wicket haul, never really allowing the Sunrisers to get a perfect finish.

The hosts shine with the ball - An all-round bowling display by MI London, who have managed to bowl out their opponents on what is looking like a par score. The Sunrisers will feel that they left some runs out there. 76/2 in the first half, followed by an underwhelming finish, losing 8 wickets for 67 runs in the next fifty balls.

Abrar Ahmed is the last batter in for the Sunrisers. Richard Gleeson will bowl the final set of the innings, and he is on a Hat Trick.

Last 6 balls left in the innings. Nathan Ellis is in at number 10. But Alsop will be on strike.

Trent Boult to bowl the penultimate set of 5 of this innings.

The next batter is Matthew Potts.

It seems like the ball has taken a beating and needs to be changed. The fourth umpire is out with a box of balls, and the on-field umpires select one closest in condition to the previous one.

Champions' day out - Righto, we have now seen both the Women's and the Men's reigning champions start off with a big 'W' against their name, as Sunrisers Leeds and MI London trade blows in the overall context of the day. The Women's curtain-raiser was won by Sunrisers in what was a canter of a run chase, and now we have seen something very similar, but in the Men's game, it is MI London who have answered back. The tournament has just begun, and there's plenty of action to come. Next up, it will be Southern Brave going up against Welsh Fire down in Southampton. The Women's fixture will begin at 1.45 pm GMT (7.15 pm IST), followed by the Men's contest. You can also tune in to our build-up of those games much sooner. Until then, take care and ADIOS!

Let's now hear from the winning captain - Sam Curran, the skipper of MI London, says the game was won with the ball. Given how the Sunrisers are set up with the bat, the plan was to use spin through the middle overs, and it paid off. Feels the squad was put together well at the auction. Shares that he was on the phone during the auction, and they wanted to bring in as many Surrey players as possible to maintain the core of the group. Curran says getting James Vince at the auction was a no-brainer. He adds that the side has enjoyed success with a twin leg-spin attack in the past, which is why they opted for both Nathan Sowter and Rashid Khan. He believes Nicholas Pooran is going to have plenty of fun batting at the Oval, describing him as one of those elite players who can get into a zone and take the game away. Sam shares he told Nicholas Pooran to finish the chase as quickly as possible, knowing net run rate could play an important role later in the competition. On working with Kieron Pollard, he says the Windies legend is fiercely competitive and hates losing.

Player of the Match - Nicholas Pooran is given the accolade for his game-changing knock of 58 not out off just 22 balls. Pooran, on being asked what pleased him the most in the innings, mentions seeing the way Sam Curran weathered the storm in the middle and says that Vince was a bit unlucky not to get going. Adds that when he came to bat, he just tried to do what was needed. Details that Sam Curran was set as well and they were just trying to stay as positive as they can. Says scoring runs obviously gives a lot of confidence, but winning games for the team feels a lot better. On the target, he details that it was not easy to score runs as the wicket was a bit slowish initially, but it got better as the lights came on, with the ball sliding onto the bat nicely. On having his family to support him in the stands, Pooran says it was nice to score a fifty in front of them and blow a kiss toward them.

Recapping the first innings - The first half of the game was a topsy-turvy one, and after being asked to bat first, Sunrisers Leeds got themselves into a decent position from which to attack. Mitchell Marsh got 40-odd, and there was Tom Alsop, who played a handy cameo in the latter half, but they started to lose wickets at an alarming rate towards the end of that innings. Richard Gleeson broke the back of the Sunrisers' batting line-up when he got 3 wickets in a spell of 10 straight deliveries, and from thereon, MI London never looked back.

Going in the opposite direction - Just as their batting inning, Sunrisers Leeds let things slip after getting into a position of promise. Brydon Carse gave them a perfect start by picking up a couple of early wickets, and Nathan Ellis also showcased all of his skills. However, it was the lack of depth in their bowling line-up that cost them dearly. Abrar Ahmed, who played as the lead spinner, was dealt plenty of hefty blows as the ball started to skid on a lot more and overall, Sunrisers weren't simply good enough today.

Too much firepower in the tank - MI London have some big names in the batting lineup, but they lost their top order without many runs on the board. With 86 needed off just 50 balls, Nicholas Pooran decided to take the bull by its horns. The next couple of sets produced 30 runs and Sam Curran too started to brim with confidence. Pooran went on to score the fastest 50 in their franchise's history as an unbeaten 93-run stand between him and Curran made light work of the chase. Curran, too, got a half-century and remained unbeaten on 60 off 39 balls.

The roar of the Champions - Reigning champions, now renamed MI London and under the new leadership of Sam Curran, have begun their quest for a fourth straight title in commanding fashion. Sunrisers Leeds seemed slightly ahead in the first half of the chase, but were soon blown away by some Southpaw magic.

MI London need just 11 runs to win from 20 balls. Matthew Potts is back to bowl his final five.

Pooran has taken Abrar to the cleaners, with 21 runs coming off it. This duo has just taken the wind out of the Sunrisers' sails. There's a change of ball as the previous one seems to have gone out of shape. Fairly, it has taken quite some beating. The fourth umpire is out with a box of replacement balls. The on-field umpires pick one out of it, and we are good to resume. Nathan Ellis to bowl out now. Can he produce a wicket here?

Despite conceding a boundary, that was a pretty good set of five by Ellis. MI London, though, are comfortably in the driving seat as they need 38 runs from 30 balls. Here's Abrar Ahmed back into the attack.

Crawley brings back his trump card as the Sunrisers are in desperate need of a breakthrough. Nathan Ellis is back on.