Admin November 14, 2024
Sushant Modani produced the highest score of the tournament, making 138 off 115 balls, and teamed up with fellow century-maker Shayan Jahangir in a 235-run opening stand in a win over South that sent Southwest into the tournament final.
Photo credit: Peter Della Penna
By Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
USA teammates Sushant Modani and Shayan Jahangir put on a mammoth 235-run opening partnership to set up a Southwest total of 349 for 6, the highest team total of the tournament, before right-arm pacer bowler Rushil Ugarkar’s 4 for 29 helped keep South Zone to 189 for 9 in reply as Southwest topped their group with a 160-run win on Thursday to advance to the final of the 2024 USA Cricket Men’s 45-over National Championship at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, California.
Modani and Jahangir both put up centuries during the partnership with Modani reaching the milestone first off 82 balls, at which stage he had eight fours and two sixes. He was dropped moments later on 104 as a slog sweep to deep midwicket was put down, and he went on to eventually make a tournament best score of 138 off 115 balls ending with 13 fours and two sixes. Jahangir needed just 67 balls to reach his milestone, striking 10 fours and six sixes along the way. He had earlier been dropped on 74 at deep midwicket after a poor misjudgement by former USA player Sagar Patel resulted in the ball being spilled over the rope for a boundary.
Their double-century partnership ended with Jahangir edged behind an attempted cut off Aaron Jones for 104 on the first ball after the 28-over drinks break. Modani fell in the 35th over caught at long-on as Southwest kept pressing ahead for quick runs. Ali Sheikh eventually fell on the penultimate ball of the innings for 23 off 15 balls, his first dismissal of the tournament after an unbeaten century on day one and 44 not out on day two.
Aside from Ugarkar’s four-for in the field for Southwest, Sheikh took 3 for 32 in eight overs of left-arm spin. Rohan Phadke top-scored for South with 49 at No. 7 before he was out to Ugarkar. Jones and Utkarsh Srivastava, who had scored a century and half-century a day earlier for South, were dismissed for 9 and 0 respectively by Sheikh and Ugarkar.
In the day’s other battle of unbeaten sides seeking a spot in the tournament final, a disciplined Mid Atlantic side bowled out West Zone for 183 in 42.2 overs before chasing down the target with 23 balls to spare in a four-wicket win. West had battled back from early setbacks with a 69-run fourth-wicket partnership between Zahid Zakhil (63 off 76) and Skanda Rohit Sharma (39 off 47). But after taking West to 137 for 3 in the 28thover, both players fell in the space of five deliveries to spark a rapid slide. Legspinner Yasir Mohammad had Skanda dismissed to end the 28th before Ritwik Behera’s offspin claimed Zakhil. Mohammad then followed it up with the wicket of Shadley van Schalkwyk to a return catch before Manoj Acharya returned to run through the tail with 3 for 32 in 7.2 overs.
Behera (32 off 45) and Prannav Chettipalayam (23 off 35) set a solid platform for the Mid Atlantic chase before Kunwarjeet Singh made 56 off 86 balls at No. 3 to earn Player of the Match honors. Sanjay Krishnamurthi took 2 for 22 in 4.1 overs of left-arm spin for West’s best bowling figures. Playing his first match of the tournament, Saurabh Netravalkar claimed 1 for 20 in nine overs.
A youthful USA Red side battled back from 84 for 7 to eventually post a total of 239 for 8 and held on for a 58-run over Midwest to avoid the last-place playoff. Abinav Sudershanum and Player of the Match Shuaib Syed put on an 89-run eighth-wicket stand to turn the match around. Sudershanum made 52 off 51 balls including four fours and three sixes from No. 7 while Shuaib’s heroics were even more impressive after he added 67 not out off 64 balls after entering at No. 9. After Sudershanum fell to end the 38th over, Shuaib and Arya Garg (33 not out off 29 balls) added an unbroken 66-run stand across the final seven overs to deflate Midwest. Left-arm spinner Tirth Patel took 2 for 27 in eight overs to lead Midwest with the ball.
In reply, Midwest were pinned down early and limped to a final total of 181 for 9. Varun Mantha knocked over both openers in the first four overs before Shuaib (2 for 33 in 8.5 overs) and captain Rishi Ramesh (3 for 43 in nine overs) ripped apart the middle order to reduce Midwest to 75 for 7. A counter-attacking 57 off 46 balls from Rayhan Ahmed at No. 9 brought respectability to Midwest’s scorecard before he was runout in the 37thover for the ninth wicket.
In the day’s other battle of winless teams, East Zone held on for a tight 10-run win over USA Blue. Akeem Dodson set up East well early on with 64 off 88 balls at the top of the order, but he was bowled by left-arm spinner Sohan Bhat in the 25th over to spark a collapse as Bhat proceeded to run through the rest of the East lineup for four more wickets and ended with 5 for 27 including two maidens for the tournament’s second five-wicket haul. Achilles Browne fought a lone battle of resistance at No. 6, making 53 off 47 runs including all 27 runs in a 10th wicket partnership with tailender Rahim Dipu, which proved to be crucial in the final margin as East was bowled out for 204 in 44 overs. Browne’s knock was all the more impressive due to the fact that East’s No. 7 through 11 batters combined for a total of five runs as the only other runs scored after the fall of the fifth wicket at 148 for 5 that weren’t made by Browne were three extras conceded by USA Blue’s bowlers.
USA Blue coasted through the majority of their chase, but left a needed acceleration until way too late. Siddarth Kappa made 55 off 88 balls at No. 3 as part of a 101-run second-wicket partnership with Abhinav Sikharam. But Kappa fell in the 32nd over and Blue continued to lack a surge as they entered the final five overs needing 40 runs to win off 30 balls. Once USA Blue decided to start hitting out, wickets tumbled rapidly including Sikharam who fell to Gajanand Singh’s offspin for 67 off 102 balls to make it 185 for 5 as Blue needed 20 off the final 14 balls. The rest of the Blue lineup added just nine more runs the rest of the way and individually could only make single digits as they ended on 194 for 9. Eventual Player of the Match Earl Henningham followed up his earlier wickets of Kappa and Sujith Gowda with two more at the death to finish with 4 for 30.
Aside from the championship match between Southwest and Mid Atlantic to crown an undefeated winner, South Zone will face West Zone in the third place playoff on Friday. East will face USA Red in the fifth place playoff while Midwest take on USA Blue in the seventh place playoff with both teams in search of their first win.
