College Players in Leagues – Bhatti strikes again, 111* & 50*! USA Team ?

Adil Bhatti continues to show why he is one of the best American batsman, making runs in different parts of the country against bowlers he has never faced before. Temperamentally mature,he can play solid long innings, or collar & attack the bowling at will.

4th of July weekend at the Central East Region 50 Overs tournament to select their Regional Team Adil Bhatti scored 111* ,6 sixes & 7 fours, then in another game followed up with a solid 50* to ensure his Team got the win.
Bhatti earned the Batsman of the Tournament, and Man of the Match Awards.

Just last week Bhatti blasted 98* in the Washington Cricket League with an astounding 86 runs coming in boundaries (9 sixes & 8 fours). He has also scored 2 other 50’s in the WCL so far this season & is averaging 56.8 runs per innings.

Last year he scored 2 centuries & 2 fifties in the WCL and averaged 53 runs. In 2008 he averaged 54.7 runs.

At the 2010 American College Cricket Championship he smashed 60* against the University of the West Indies (UWI) pace attack on the fast bouncing wickets on the sidefields of CBRP. Remember 5 players from UWI recently played Tests for the West Indies, and many more play First Class cricket.

Also in Florida in Dec 2009, playing with & against USA players he score 60 in a T20 game.

On 3 trips to New York with 2009 College Champions Montgomery Bhatti scored runs each time including 2 50’s ( in 20/20 games) against the best young NY & other college bowlers like Adrian Gordon, Andre Kirton, Hugo D’Oliveira, Sumantro Das, Hashim Khan, Andy Mohammed etc.

As a bowler he has excelled for Montgomery – I watched him dismiss 2 of the best batsmen in the USA, Andy Mohammed & Akeem Dodson with beautiful inswingers to help MC beat the College Allstars. He has taken 10 wickets this season in the WCL at 23.4 runs.

Bhatti is an extremely fast & athletic fielder.Despite going to school and working,he is the only cricket player I know who pays for a gym membership – he works out in the gym 3/4 times a week – he is a professional, in attitude . He does not whine about staying in shape or not getting paid to play cricket.

There is no reason Bhatti should not be on the USA team – his attitude and his game is professional – his record speaks for itself – Adil Bhatti should be going to Italy with the USA team.

Leagues were off for the 4th of July Weekend but in other tournaments:

Bilal Shahid (York College) 70* and 6 wickets

Arshdeep Singh scored 90 & totalled over 250 runs in the NCCA Tana Cup 20/20 Tournament in California.

Romero Deane (DeVry) scored 56 (5 fours & 4 sixes (20/20)

Mohammed Ghous (Middlesex County) 49 (20/20) Man of the Match

Andra Kirton 2 for 15 ( 20/20)

Thursday July 1st, a number of College cricketers were among those invited to Gracie Mansion to a party hosted by Mayor Bloomberg. The occasion was the Presentation of the Mayor’s Cup, which the NYC Boroughs play for annually in cricket.

York College Captain Mohammed Suleman, Andre Kirton (BMCC), Navdeep Saini (York College), Jagsminder Singh (NYU-Poly), Romeno Deane (Devry) were invited. Also present was Carl Bennett, who did the commentary at the live video webcast of the 2010 American College Cricket Semis & Finals.

Andre Kirton (BMCC) received the MVP Award from Hennessy – which everyone thought was appropriate.