Hosts UTA make clean sweep, 3 Wins !
Heavy rain for 2 days before the weekend meant the UT Arlington club, led by Bhaskar Trivedi, Hari Kiran and Tanmay Kakade, had to work hard, on their hands and knees, drying out the pitch and parts of the outfield to ensure play on Sat & Sun. Arkansas State and an Alumni team were visiting to play vs the Mavericks.
After UTA’s success in getting to the Final 4 in 2014 Nationals, the school was motivated to make a cricket field which opened in 2016. For various reasons much play had not happened, and this mini-tournament was aimed at supporting the field – the school once again responded positively by installing a new surface for the pitch.
The Alumni, led by UTA alum Harish Bv, a former UTA Club President, had a tough start, a bunch of players unknown to the Captain. UTA was able to win easily. The alumni team comprised alumni from UTA ,York Univ & Fresno State filled out by students from Texas Tech and U of North Texas. Jaiveer Chauhan 2010 National Champion with York University had flown in for the weekend. Vijay Ganesh (UTA) took 3 wkts for 12.
The Alumni team then played Arkansas State in an exciting game that came down to the last over. Tejas Sambre (UTA alum) 54, Sauman Basu (UTA alum) 28 and Jaiveer Chauhan (York U alum) 20 gave the Alumni a good total of 146 for 7. Akhil Kola 2 for 15 was the pick of the ASU bowlers. Armaan Dhirani 47, Jagdish Patel 27 and Divya Patel 21 got the Red Wolves close. From 17 to win in the last over ASU needed 6 to tie on the last ball when Vamsi Varma took a wicket to earn the Alumni a hard fought comeback win.
Karthik Parechall 64, Abhinay Lakkamaneni 30, and Harsha Bollina 26 pushed UT Arlington to 175 for 7. Divya 24 was the only top order ASU batsman to stand until Sam Das smashed some power hits for 39 giving Red Wolves a bit of hope, ultimately in a lost cause, finishing 101 all out. Abhijeet Rathod was a dynamo takin 4 of the top order plus 2 catches and a run out !
In the final game, Arkansas State’s batting again did not click though Captain Navdeep made 21, before Sam Das again smashed 3 sixes to make 26. At the bottom of the lineup Mohnish Kumar had a typical fastbowler type innings of 14* to the delight of himself and his teammates. ASU made a great effort defending their low total and were in with a real chance to win but Abdul Mohammed 32 and Harsha Bollina 26* got the Mavericks over the line at 90 for 7.
This completed 3 wins in their 3 games this weekend for hosts UT Arlington, building momentum for Nationals at Spring Break. Captain Hari Kiran getting 3 victories in his first game as Captain. As hosts UT Arlington itself, and the cricket club were excellent hosts.
Arkansas State ensured a successful weekend by making the trip, and showing resilience in 2 of their games, even without one of their top batsmen Kishan Das, still nursing an injury. The Alumni team led by Harish Bv showed what they are capable of, despite being a collection of players who didn’t know each other !
MVP: Abhijeet Rahod (UTA) for his great field 6 catches, and 2 run outs. Though he could have won it for his bowling 7 wickets, including a 4 fer
Best Batsman:Sam Das (Arkansas State) – most runs
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