CHICAGO UNITED WINS PEPSI CUP 30/30!

  • September 16, 2018

Perfect clear skies, 80 degrees and 10 MPH N-E winds was the weather at the BPL stadium in Bolingbrook, IL. The turf wicket and outfield was meticulously prepared as Northern Gymkhana (NG)took on Chicago United (CU)in the Pepsi Cup 30/30 Finals. It was Chicago United’s third consecutive appearance in the finals. Chicago United won the toss and elected to field.
Northern Gym openers, Saad Bangush and Salman Ahmed faced CU pace duo of Murtaza Vohra and Ahmed Askari. Murtaza with his 1st class (India) experience troubled the batsmen and picked up a wicket in the very first over. At the other end, Askari demonstrated his experience with smart and quick bowling. In his 1st over he sent back Shaheer Hassan with a quick LBW. At 18/3 in 5 overs, NG was looking to stabilized with Shayan and Najmi. However, Koti’s pace and Niraj Patel’s spin limited the runs. Najmi’s 27 runs contributed well to NG’s total of 79 all out in 27 overs. Koti wrapped up his spell with an impressive 6-0-10-4.
CU opened their batting with ‘in form’ Yaseen and Abhijit Joshi. Strategically NG in their first 5 overs engaged four bowlers which Yaseen continued to bat aggressively. In the 6th over, Najmi picked up two wickets to dismiss Abhijit and Donieke at 36 runs. Former U19 and India ‘A’ player, Niraj Patel joined Yaseen. Left arm spinner Abir and Najmi spun the ball well to trouble the batsmen. Abir bowled the dangerous batsmen Yaseen putting Chicago United to reset the batting lineup with Hassan in. With the quick fall of Hassan in the 10th over CU was 49/4 pulling CU skipper Sami Khan (former Hyderabad and Vizzy captain) into bat. Najmi and Abir were impressive with the ball line, length and pace variation. This was a delight to watch as they were equally challenged with the experienced batsmen at the wicket and a few more to come. Chicago United chased it down in 15 overs and six wickets on hand! Koti Vanga earned the ‘Man of the Match’.
Thank you to all our players, families and fans for your support thru the 30/30 series.