Cricket fans witnessed history on Wednesday night at the Oakland Coliseum, as Washington Freedom pulled off the biggest successful run chase in T20 history. Chasing a massive target of 267 runs, Freedom got past defending champions MI New York with six wickets still in hand, sealing their place in Eliminator 2 of Major League Cricket (MLC) 2026.
This was not just a big win. It was a match that rewrote several records in one single game, from the fastest century in MLC history to the most sixes ever hit in a T20 match.
The Chase That Broke Records
Before this game, the record for the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket belonged to Punjab Kings, who chased down 265 runs against Delhi Capitals earlier this year in the IPL. That record stood for only a few months before Washington Freedom smashed past it in Oakland.
Chasing 267 is never easy, no matter how strong a batting lineup looks on paper. Most teams would have found this target out of reach. But Freedom showed calm and control from the start, building their innings around two key batters who took the game away from MI New York.
Andries Gous and Steven Smith were the two batters who guided Washington Freedom through this record chase. Both players scored centuries during the innings, and their partnership became one for the history books. The pair added 241 runs together, which now stands as the joint second-highest partnership ever seen in T20 cricket. Their partnership formed the backbone of the chase, giving Freedom the platform they needed to complete this incredible run pursuit.
Nicholas Pooran’s Record-Breaking Hundred
The story of this match, however, began earlier in the evening with an innings that left everyone stunned. MI New York batter Nicholas Pooran smashed a century off just 31 balls, the fastest hundred in MLC history.
Pooran’s innings was full of clean hitting and big shots that cleared the boundary again and again. His hundred is now the second-fastest century in the history of franchise T20 cricket. Only West Indies great Chris Gayle has done it faster, scoring a century in just 30 balls for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors India during the 2013 IPL season.
Before Pooran’s knock, the fastest century in MLC history belonged to Finn Allen, who had reached his hundred in 34 balls the previous year. Pooran’s innings broke that mark by three balls, adding his name to one of cricket’s most exciting lists of quick centuries.
Thanks to Pooran’s innings, MI New York posted a huge total of 266 runs in their innings. It looked like a target that would be nearly impossible to chase down. But cricket often has a way of producing surprises, and this match was about to deliver one of the biggest chases the sport has ever seen.
Three Centuries, One Unforgettable Match
What made this game truly special was that it featured three separate centuries, one from MI New York and two from Washington Freedom. Such high-scoring, hundred-filled matches are rare in T20 cricket, where matches are usually decided by quick bursts of runs rather than long, big innings from multiple batters.
Pooran’s century set the tone early, giving MI New York a total that seemed unbeatable. But Gous and Smith responded with centuries of their own during the chase, showing that no target was too big on this particular night in Oakland.
Having three centuries in a single T20 match places this game among the most batting-heavy contests in the format’s history. It also shows how batter-friendly conditions were at the Oakland Coliseum that evening, with both teams finding it easy to find the boundary throughout the match.
A Six-Hitting Fest Like No Other
Alongside the individual batting records, this match also became known for the sheer number of sixes hit. Between both teams, the match produced 51 sixes, the most ever hit in a single T20 match. This was also the first time in T20 history that a match had crossed the 50-six mark.
MI New York alone hit 29 sixes, which is now the highest number of sixes hit by any team in a single innings in MLC history. This broke the previous record of 28 sixes, which was set by San Francisco Unicorns against Washington Freedom back in 2025, also at the same Oakland ground.
Washington Freedom, on their part, added 22 sixes of their own during their chase, further pushing up the six-count for the match. Before this game, the record for most sixes in a T20 match stood at 42, a mark shared by two different matches. Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings had hit 42 sixes between them during an IPL 2024 match, and that number was later matched by Guyana Amazon Warriors and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots during a Caribbean Premier League game the same year.
This MLC clash blew past that old record by nine sixes, showing just how aggressive both batting lineups were throughout the contest.
Second-Highest Match Aggregate in T20 History
With both teams scoring freely throughout the match, the overall runs produced in this game reached 536, making it the second-highest match aggregate in the history of T20 cricket. Only one game has produced more combined runs, a 2024 IPL clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Sunrisers Hyderabad, which finished with 549 total runs.
This puts the Washington Freedom versus MI New York game firmly among the highest-scoring T20 matches ever played, alongside some of the biggest run-fests seen in the IPL, the world’s most popular T20 league.
How the Match Unfolded
MI New York batted first and built their innings around Pooran’s explosive hundred. His fast scoring pushed the total to 266, a score that would have won most T20 matches comfortably. Given the way batters were finding the boundary throughout the match, though, even a target as big as this one was not out of reach.
Washington Freedom came out with intent from the very start of their chase. Gous and Smith batted together for a long stretch, building the partnership that would eventually define the match. Their 241-run stand kept the required run rate under control, even as MI New York’s bowlers tried different strategies to slow down the scoring.
By the time both batters had brought up their centuries, Washington Freedom were well ahead of the pace needed, and the record chase looked increasingly likely. In the end, the team completed the chase with six wickets still in hand, giving them a comfortable margin despite chasing such a massive target.
With this win, Washington Freedom have kept their MLC 2026 title hopes alive. They will now play San Francisco Unicorns in Eliminator 2 of the tournament. The winner of that match will move on to face LA Knight Riders in the final of MLC 2026.
MI New York, despite Pooran’s record-breaking innings and their team total of 266, found themselves on the losing side of this historic clash. Their tournament ends here, as the defending champions were eliminated from this year’s competition following the loss.
A Night That Will Be Remembered
Matches like this one do not come around often. A game featuring three centuries, 51 sixes, and the biggest successful chase in T20 history is the kind of contest that fans and record books will remember for a long time.
From Pooran’s blistering 31-ball century to Gous and Smith’s record-setting partnership during the chase, this MLC Eliminator 1 clash between Washington Freedom and MI New York has firmly placed itself among the greatest T20 matches ever played, breaking multiple long-standing records along the way.
