Southern Brave host MI London in Match 9 of The Hundred Men's 2026 at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, on 27 July 2026 at 11:00 PM IST. The first decision is not Sam Curran — it is the venue. Brave are winless at home so far, MI London have already beaten a top side, and the Rose Bowl's bowl-first average tilts the captain question toward all-rounders who score with bat and ball in the same night.
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MI London arrive at Southampton with one win in their first two outings. Southern Brave have lost both. That record flips the usual home-edge read: a Brave side that has already conceded two chases is now asked to defend against the league's most aggressive batting unit. For BlueChip users building SOB vs ML Dream11 sides, the practical workflow is simple — build around Curran's all-round role, leave the VC slot open for Pooran, and only rewrite the card if the toss lands Brave into a chase they cannot pace.
The Hundred's 100-ball format compresses mistakes. A single dropped set of five balls can swing a captain's fantasy score by 30 or 40 points. That is why the role-flip framing here matters: choosing a captain because of name value is what loses small leagues. Choosing one because their skill set touches three scoring categories on a pacer-first surface is what wins them.
Rose Bowl averages attached to this fixture put the first innings near 142 and the second near 129. The bowl-first win rate sits at roughly 59 percent. Pacers are credited with about 61 percent of the bowling share. Southampton's late-July evening window is mild — around 16 to 17 degrees Celsius, 4 percent rain chance, 69 percent humidity — which usually keeps the new ball honest and lets the chasing side start the innings without early lateral movement.
Those numbers do not say "load six bowlers." They say your captain needs a clear path to points regardless of whether the side batting first or second wins. Sam Curran, Marcus Stoinis and Sherfane Rutherford sit higher in the priority order than pure finishers who only face the ball if a chase breaks wide open.
On a 142/129 split with pacers dominant, Sam Curran (ML captain, seam + middle-order bat), Marcus Stoinis (Brave seam + middle-order bat) and Sherfane Rutherford (ML left-handed power) all carry multi-category scoring paths. Pure top-order batters who need a 170-plus total to unlock ceiling become secondary picks.
Sam Curran leads MI London and is the tournament's leading all-round scorer through two matches — 60 runs and 2 wickets cited in the pre-match briefing. That is the rare profile that already has two fantasy columns working before the toss. In a 100-ball contest, a captain who can swing the new ball, bowl at the death and clear the inner ring with the bat is the cleanest form of captain insurance.
The natural objection is venue. Curran is travelling; the Brave are at home. Two facts complicate that objection. First, MI London's batting depth is denser than any side Brave have faced so far. Second, the Rose Bowl bowl-first tilt gives the chasing captain two bites of the cherry — bowl in the first innings, then bat second with a known target. That sequencing is where Curran's skill stack earns its captain multiplier.
Small leagues: Sam Curran (C), Nicholas Pooran (VC). Grand leagues: keep James Vince in one entry as captain — his 83 tournament runs and the keeper ceiling through ML London make him the cleanest differential. Do not split your captain choices across more than three lineups; the search space multiplies and the variance eats the edge.
Secondary captain options, in order of role security, are Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis and Sherfane Rutherford. Pooran is the mirror of Pooran-as-VC if you want full ML leverage. Stoinis covers batting and seam for Brave, useful when Archer or Worrall is rested and the all-round budget tightens. Rutherford is the differential captain if MI London bat first and the Powerplay goes big — his left-handed arc over cover is suited to the Rose Bowl square boundaries.
Across the last ten meetings cited in the pre-match briefing, MI London lead Southern Brave five wins to one, with no no-results in the sample. MI London also won the most recent match between the two. That tilts the H2H read toward the away side, even before you consider that Brave have dropped both home matches so far in 2026.
Use the H2H as a weighting, not a blind stack. A 5–1 record can still produce a Brave top-order explosion on a single night, especially with Tristan Stubbs, David Miller and Jamie Smith in the same XI. The practical fantasy translation is a 6–5 ML lean in small leagues, not a 7–4 blank that dies if Stubbs takes the Powerplay apart. Brave's probable XI also includes Ben McKinney and Nikhil Chaudhary, both of whom can clear the inner ring cheaply if the chase requires it.
The probable elevens attached to this fixture tell their own story. Southern Brave: Jamie Smith (wk), Ben McKinney, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Luke Wood, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan (c), Nikhil Chaudhary, Dan Worrall. MI London: Sam Curran (c), Nicholas Pooran (wk), James Vince, Will Jacks, Jason Roy, Richard Gleeson, Trent Boult, Tom Curran, Rashid Khan, Sherfane Rutherford, Nathan Sowter.
Treat both lists as pre-toss templates. The only locked fantasy rule is that a player must start. If Nikhil Chaudhary or Nathan Sowter is squeezed out for an extra batter after the toss, your salary map and your all-rounder count change immediately.
Wicketkeeper: Nicholas Pooran and Jamie Smith both carry the keeper points and top-order batting. Pooran has the higher ceiling through his six-hitting arc against pace, Smith has the floor advantage if Brave bat first and need a steady start. Picking one over the other is a stylistic call — Pooran for ceiling, Smith for floor.
Top-order batting: David Miller, Jason Roy, James Vince and Tristan Stubbs are the four cleanest picks. Roy is a differential because his recent Hundred form has been quieter than his international record. Stubbs is the Brave lever if the chase demands power in the last ten balls.
All-rounders: Sam Curran, Marcus Stoinis and Sherfane Rutherford carry two or more scoring categories. Rashid Khan sits here if you want a third bowling avenue that also takes wickets in the middle overs. Avoid stacking all four — the salary cost forces a specialist downgrade somewhere.
Bowling: Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Trent Boult, Richard Gleeson and Dan Worrall. Archer is the tournament's premier wicket-taker on paper but his economy in the first two matches has been ordinary. Boult's left-arm angle is suited to the Rose Bowl's evening surface. Gleeson leads ML's wicket column with 5 wickets in the pre-match briefing and deserves a slot if you want to free salary for Archer.
Working from the probable elevens and the Rose Bowl split, a disciplined small-league shape looks like this:
That eleven leans 5 ML / 6 Brave while still keeping Curran as captain, gives Pooran a clean keeper-plus-six-hitting path, and protects three bowling avenues on a pacer-friendly ground. If the toss hands Brave the ball under lights and Archer is confirmed for a long spell, flip one lineup to Archer captain and Curran vice-captain for grand-league leverage. If the chase is heavy under dew, swap Miller for Jason Roy and slide Vince into the captain conversation in a second entry.
Entry A: Curran C / Pooran VC, ML lean 6-5. Entry B: Vince or Archer C / Curran VC, ML batting or Brave pace lean. The correlation break between those two cards is usually enough to survive one failed Powerplay without needing a third random team.
If your contest allows three or more lineups, the grand-league route lives in three places. (1) Nikhil Chaudhary as vice-captain — a Brave middle-order bat who has shown boundary-hitting against pace and goes under the radar on selection percentage. (2) Rashid Khan as a third all-rounder if you want a spin route through the middle overs. (3) Tom Curran as a bowling differential if you believe the Rose Bowl will grip later in the chase.
Do not stack all three. Pick one per grand-league entry and let the salary carry the rest of the build. A grand-league card that ignores role balance is usually the same as a small-league card with a higher selection percentage on the differentials.
| Item | <Detail |
|---|---|
| Match | The Hundred Men's 2026 — Match 9, SOB vs ML |
| Venue | Rose Bowl, Southampton |
| India start | 27 July 2026, 11:00 PM IST |
| Stream (listed) | JioHotstar |
| Weather snapshot | 16–17°C, ~4% rain chance, ~69% humidity |
| Venue scoring | ~142 first innings / ~129 second; bowl-first ~59% |
| MI London record | W1, L1 — Vince 83 runs, Gleeson 5 wickets cited |
| Brave record | L2 — Adil Rashid 3 wickets in the last match |
Fifteen minutes before the toss, freeze salary and role balance. At the toss, only touch three things: (1) confirmed XI swaps, especially Nikhil Chaudhary, Nathan Sowter or Ben McKinney; (2) whether the side batting second is chasing under heavier dew; (3) whether Archer or Boult gains an extra set with the new ball. Anything beyond those three edits is usually over-fitting.
For a broader set of captain multipliers, bankroll rules and match-night process notes beyond this fixture, keep the fantasy tips and strategy desk open while you build — then come back to the SOB vs ML specifics above before you submit.
MI London arrive with the denser batting unit and the cleaner captain ledger. Southern Brave have the home crowd and the deeper seam group. The fantasy call is to weight the captain multiplier toward Curran, keep Pooran as the keeper ceiling, and leave one flex slot open until the toss. Build that way, then submit before the contests close.
Match 9 is scheduled for 27 July 2026 at 11:00 PM IST at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Live streaming is listed on JioHotstar.
Sam Curran is the primary small-league captain after his 60 runs and 2 wickets in the first two matches. James Vince is the grand-league captain differential for ML London, with Sherfane Rutherford as a left-handed power alternative.
Nicholas Pooran is the primary vice-captain as the listed ML London keeper. Nikhil Chaudhary is the grand-league differential VC inside the Brave batting unit.
Cited venue averages put the first innings near 142 and the second near 129, with a bowl-first win rate of about 59 percent and pacers dominant on roughly 61 percent of bowling share.
Across the last ten meetings cited in the pre-match briefing, MI London lead Southern Brave five wins to one with no no-results. ML London also won the most recent meeting between the two.
Southampton is forecast at 16 to 17 degrees Celsius with around 4 percent rain chance and 69 percent humidity. A full 100-ball contest is the most likely outcome.
Lock a Curran-led primary team now, then use the toss window for one confirmed XI swap and one chase-or-defend edit.
