Washington Freedom are one step short of the Major League Cricket 2024 title as we are up against the San Francisco Unicorns in the Final at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas on Sunday.

Our Final match against SFU on July 28 is scheduled to start at 7:30 PM CT (July 29, 6:00 AM IST). The MLC 2024 game will be available to watch via live streaming and broadcast.

We beat SFU by seven wickets in our Qualifier match in Dallas on Thursday to proceed directly to the final of MLC 2024. 

Rachin Ravindra and Marco Jansen picked up seven wickets amongst themselves to restrict SFU before Travis Head scored his fifth straight fifty of the competition to guide us to a comfortable win. Glenn Maxwell also scored a quickfire fifty during the chase.

Meanwhile, the Unicorns progressed to the final with a 10-run win over the Texas Super Kings in the Challenger on Friday.

Saurabh Netravalkar continues to top the bowling charts in MLC 2024 with 14 wickets from six matches at an average of 12.07 runs and an impressive strike rate of 9.57.

Travis Head and captain Steve Smith continue their run in the top five overall run-getters list this year, at second and fifth place, respectively. Head, with five fifties, has amassed 327 runs from eight matches at an average of 54.50 and an excellent strike rate of 173.93, whereas Smith has accumulated 248 runs from eight games, averaging 49.60 and striking at 142.52.

WF vs SFU form in MLC

Heading into the final, we have won four of our last five games in the MLC 2024 season. We have met SFU thrice in the history of MLC, winning two matches, including our seven-wicket win in the Qualifier match on Thursday, and losing one.

Washington Freedom's last five matches

Opponent

Venue

Result

Match Date 

Margin

SFU

Dallas

Won

July 25, 2024

7 wickets

SFU

Dallas

Lost

July 22, 2024

6 wickets (DLS)

TSK

Dallas

Won

July 19, 2024

42 runs

MINY

Dallas

Won

July 16, 2024

94 runs

LAKR

Morrisville

Won

July 14, 2024

8 wickets

 

WF vs SFU, MLC 2024 Final: Players to watch out

Rachin Ravindra recorded career-best figures of 4/11 to help us restrict the Unicorns below 150 in our Qualifier match. He kept things tight bowling 11 dot balls out of the total 16 he delivered and struck at regular intervals. 

Marco Jansen also played a crucial role picking up three big hitters, Finn Allen, Josh Inglis and Corey Anderson, in his spell. The trio of Netravalkar, Jansen and Ravindra’s performance will be crucial as we look to restrict the same opponent in the final.

On the batting front, Head continues his impressive run of form with five consecutive fifties in MLC 2024. His unbeaten 77 off just 44 balls was an important knock, as we lost an early wicket and two more in the middle phase during the chase. A sixth fifty and we might well be near the trophy.

Maxwell also played his part with the bat changing the course of the game, walking in at 64/3. He was cautiously aggressive in his approach, mixing risk and reward judiciously. Once set he just opened up with a wide range of shots to complete his fifty in just 22 balls and closed the chase with a boundary.

Washington Freedom squad: Steven Smith (c), Akhilesh Reddy, Jack Edwards, Andries Gous, Travis Head, Lahiru Milantha, Mukhtar Ahmed, Justin Dill, Ian Holland, Marco Jansen, Glenn Maxwell, Obus Pienaar, Rachin Ravindra, Amila Aponso, Lockie Ferguson, Akeal Hosein, Saurabh Netravalkar, Andrew Tye, Yasir Mohammad

Where to watch WF vs SFU MLC 2024 Final LIVE

LIVE telecast and streaming of the Washington Freedom vs San Francisco Unicorns MLC 2024 final will be available on Monumental Sports Network and Willow by Cricbuzz in the USA. The match will start at 7:30 PM CT on July 28.

The WF vs SFU match will be streamed LIVE on the Jio Cinema App and website in India starting at 06:00 AM IST on July 29.