MI London men fell to their first defeat of the 2026 season as Rachin Ravindra stars with bat and ball to a 15-run victory
Ravindra’s 44-ball 98 left a record Sophia Gardens crowd purring before he took a stunning caught-and-bowled to take the pivotal wicket of James Vince for 64.
Fire had struggled to find their rhythm after MI London won the toss and asked them to bat. Phil Salt spooned a catch to Sherfane Rutherford to give Tom Curran the early breakthrough and when Matthew Short was bowled by Richard Gleeson the hosts had laboured to 20-2 from 22 deliveries.
But when Ravindra entered the action he appeared to be batting on a different surface, racing to his half-century in 22 balls and bringing up the milestone by dispatching Rashid Khan over the midwicket boundary.
With Joe Root (29 from 26) playing second fiddle, Ravindra kept his foot on the gas, hitting four sixes in the space of eight deliveries and passing Jonny Bairstow’s record (86*) for the highest score by a Fire batter in the men’s competition.
Jordan Cox (17* from 9) played a lively cameo after Root was stumped off Khan but all eyes were on Ravindra as he approached his century, only for the Kiwi strokemaker to fall for 98 from the 98th delivery of the innings, skewing a catch to Jason Roy off the impressive Trent Boult (1-16).
In reply Will Jacks fell early to Sam Cook but the visitors looked well-placed at 72-1 after 46 deliveries before Lockie Ferguson (4-26) struck twice in consecutive balls, castling Roy and then dismissing Sam Curran for a golden duck.
Ferguson had his third when he removed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran before Ravindra produced a piece of magic to dismiss Vince (66 from 38) when the match was in the balance.
Fire’s bowlers held their nerve at the death as Rutherford (24* from 18) flexed his muscles, Ferguson returning to clean up Tom Curran and secure his team’s second win of the campaign.
Ravindra, the Meerkat Match Hero, said: “We know how good the MI London side is and the history and pedigree of their team, and for us to put on a performance on our home ground, the way we played, was fantastic.”
