Explosive Batting Line-up But Lack Of All-Rounders-Analysis Of San Francisco Unicorns

San Francisco Unicorns will be looking to improve their position in the points table in MLC 2024 [X]

With the second season of the Major League Cricket knocking at the doors, the San Francisco Unicorns will be looking to improve on their show from the last season. They finished at the second-last position in the previous edition and will be hunting for a better finish, at least, if not the title, this season. 

Before the start of the tournament, let us take a deeper look into the San Francisco squad ahead of the MLC 2024.

Batters: Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Jahmar Hamilton, Jos Inglis, Sherfane Rutherford, Matthew Short

All-rounders: Corey Anderson, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Tajinder Singh

Bowlers: Abrar Ahmed, Bordy Couch, Pat Cummins, Haris Rauf, Hassan Khan, Matt Henry, Carmi le Roux, Liam Plunkett, Karima Gore

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Strengths of San Francisco Unicorns for MLC 2024

Jake Fraser-McGurk before starting the campaign for San Francisco Unicorns in MLC 2024 [X]

Explosive batting order

With some new recruits for the second season, the top order of the San Francisco Unicorns looks dangerous and explosive. The likes of Finn Allen, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short can give the team some blazing starts, setting them on the way to big totals. 

The batting order is not at all top-heavy, as there are players like Corey Anderson, Sherfane Rutherford, and Josh Inglis who can keep the momentum going in the middle and the death overs, potentially taking the game away from the opposition.

Experienced pace attack

Pat Cummins will be starring and leading the pace attack for the Unicorns. His experience and skills need no new introduction, and the meagre presence of the man will boost the team's bowling to a great extent. Cummins will have the likes of Haris Rauf and Matt Henry with them, who, under his leadership, can turn out to be fearsome pace units during the tournament.

Besides leading the bowling unit, the vital inputs from Cummins as a leader will help the team a lot during the campaign. 

Weaknesses of San Francisco Unicorns for MLC 2024

Lack of variety in the all-round section

Corey Anderson is the only experienced and potentially effective all-rounder in the squad. Tajinder Singh was a part of the team in the previous edition but failed to impress with either of his trades. On the other hand, Sanjay Krishnamurthi is a new entity, and his abilities are not well known. So, there is a definite lack of depth in this section, which might haunt the team during the campaign.

Lack of grafters in the batting line-up

For any team to win a tournament, there needs to be a balance in the batting line-up between aggressive players and innings builders. In a line-up of six probable batters, there must be at least one player who can anchor the innings from one end. While there is no lack of fire-power in the SAFU batting line-up, they probably lack a grafter and this might hinder their campaign to some extent.

San Francisco Unicorns Predicted XI for the first match

Finn Allen ✈️, Jake Fraser-McGurk ✈️, Matthew Short ✈️, Josh Inglis (wk) ✈️, Corey Anderson (c), Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Tajinder Singh,  Pat Cummins ✈️, Karima Gore,  Carmi le Roux, Haris Rauf✈️

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