Picking a combined LA Knight Riders-San Francisco Unicorns playing XI for MLC 2024 ft. Finn Allen, Shakib Al Hasan
Los Angeles Knight Riders and San Francisco Unicorns will clash in the 10th match of Major League Cricket 2024 at Church Street Park in Morrisville, United States of America on Saturday, July 13. Both these teams know the importance of picking up a win in this game and will do their best to ensure that.
Neither is at the top half of the league table at the time of writing, which is worrying. While the Knight Riders are fourth in the table with two points to their name, the Unicorns are perched just one spot below them in the standings with the same number of points.
In this piece, we pick a combined XI from both teams ahead of this game:
#1 Top-order batters: Jason Roy, Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk
It goes without saying that this side has one of the best top orders in the entire tournament. With the likes of Jason Roy, Finn Allen and Jake Fraser-McGurk putting their hands up for contention, it will be difficult to slot just two.
With Roy and Allen expected to open the innings, young Fraser-McGurk will be expected to come in at number three.
All three batters in the top order of this side are extremely volatile and are known to take the attack to the opposition right from the get-go. It will be quite challenging for any bowling side to pitch the ball in good areas to them while not getting hammered for runs.
#2 Middle-order batters: Matthew Short, Shakib Al Hasan, David Miller, Andre Russell
The middle-order of this side will be brought up by Matthew Short at number four, Shakib Al Hasan at five and David Miller and Andre Russell at six and seven respectively, depending upon the situation.
With Short expected to continue with the barrage of shots if he gets to do so inside the powerplay, only Shakib will want to rotate the strike a little and add a sense of stability to their lineup.
David Miller and Andre Russell have but one role to fulfill: to hit the ball as far as possible and as hard as possible. They will be given the role to finish the innings on a high, either when they are batting first or batting second.
#3 Wicketkeeper: Unmukt Chand
Unmukt Chand has been the makeshift wicketkeeper for the LAKR this season and he will be asked to don the gloves here as well. It is unfortunate that he cannot be accommodated at the top of the order; he will have to make do with a spot in the lower middle order.
Having been passed over for selection in the World Cup earlier this year, the former India U19 captain will be keen on proving his doubters wrong.
#4 Bowlers: Sunil Narine, Ali Khan, Haris Rauf
The bowling department of this team will include Sunil Narine, Ali Khan and Haris Rauf; the former will also be asked to lead this team. He will also add a lot of value to this side with his exquisite off-spin and the myriad variations that he possesses.
Ali Khan and Haris Rauf will contribute with the new ball to this team - their express pace will not be fancied by any batter padding up against them.
With Narine and Shakib Al Hasan chipping in with spin in the middle overs, all-rounder Andre Russell will play the role of bowling his handy medium pace when asked to.