LA Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns MLC Tips: Don't miss 30/1 top-bat steal

• Nitish Kumar underrated at huge price

• Fraser-McGurk could be explosive

• Morrisville pitch favours chaser

• LA beginning to look weak

LA Kight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns
Saturday 13 July, 20:00
TV: Live on Sky Sports

LA Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns team news

LA are in danger of reverting to type. They finished stone-dead last in 2023 and they have suffered two bad beatings in their last two. One of those was by Unicorns, too, by six wickets. The problem appears to be potency with the ball despite Spencer Johnson's involvement. They may need to find room for Josh Little. But that would mean probably mean dropping Shakib al Hasan.

Possible XI: Roy, Narine, Chand, Miller, Russell, Badar, Kumar, Dry, Johnson, Little, Ali Khan

Unicorns have a win and defeat to their name. They were outplayed by Texas last time when they were so poor even the bat-second toss bias wasn't even tested. However, they should be boosted by Pat Cummins making his MLC debut. Haris Rauf looks most likely to sit out.

Probable XI: Fraser-McGurk, Allen, Short, Krishnamurthi, Inglis, Anderson, Cummins, Plunkett, Couch, Abrar

LA Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns pitch report

Eight of the nine completed matches at Morrisville in MLC have been won by the chaser. MINY-Texas was washed out on Saturday, though, and it could be that, as a minimum, overs need to be reduced to get a game here. There is more rain forecast. The 20-over par line does what it says on the tin so it will be voided if there is any reduction. For the innings runs market there will be settlement if five overs have been bowled.

LA Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns match prediction

We expect the match odds market to settle in favour of LA in terms of favouritism, mirroring Sportsbook's 8/111.73 plays even money. We are quite enamoured with the Unicorns line-up. We cannot say the same about LA.

Cummins turning up should be a significant boost to their professionalism and on-field plans. And as we've said before they have a thrilling top five. It could prove to be the best in the tournament.

We, of course, respect the toss bias and will get with Unicorns if they get the chance to bat second to repeat their successful chase against LA. In a reduced-overs contest Unicorns' batting really could make the difference, too.

LA Knight Riders v San Francisco Unicorns player bets

Jake Fraser-McGurk has had a quiet start to the MLC. As a result his runs quote with Sportsbook is available to go over at a cheap-looking 17.5 at 5/6. How cheap? Well, since his breakthrough season in the Big Bash playing overs at that line would have been a winner 14 times out of 22. We expect him to deliver and with a career strike rate of 155 it shouldn't take long. We need a minimum 16 overs for player runs bets to stand.

We do note the Cummins at 25/126.00 for top bat but we might want a bit more wear and tear on the surfaces before we get involved. For LA, Sportsbook have gone way too big about Nitish Kumar at 30/131.00 for top bat. Nitish, part of the USA team, has been batting at No 5 and has looked solid with scores of 26 and 20 so far. He top scored for the Americans against England in the World Cup from No 3. He should be about 7s and that may even be generous. We need a minimum of ten overs for top bat bets to stand.

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