CU WINS PEPSI BASH T20

  • September 16, 2016

CU WINS PEPSI BASH T20
By Pratik Patel

BPL hosted its T20 Pepsi Bash finals, an Expert XI vs Chicago United match at the beautiful BPL stadium under bright flood lights to the beat of the DJ’s music and cheering spectators. Large Pepsi sponsor flags, glittering trophies with the BPL/Pepsi back drop, several media cameras, 70 degrees, raffle, ‘BatSixMan’ award, winner award, dinner for all spectators etc. add to the excitement of the Pepsi Bash Finale.
CU (Chicago United) had lost to Expert XI in the round robin and was under pressure. Expert XI seemed confident from their previous winning streak. Their enthusiasm was shown in the early match warm ups. CU won the toss and put Expert XI to bat. Indeed a surprising decision by CU Skipper Mohammed Sami. Expert XI lost early wickets while Sri and Siva batted well for Expert XI. However, CU bowlers limited Expert XI to 82 all out. CU bowling attack of ‘Swing King’ Abdul Khader (1st class India) and Ahmed Askari ‘express’ was unmatched by the Expert XI batsmen. Donieke, Sikander and Niraj Patel (Ex India U19, 100 1st class, IPL) made a significant impact to this low score with the ball.

Expert XI faced an uphill task for the bowlers to defend a low score. Tristaan (Ex WI U-19 keeper) and Yaseen opened the batting for CU. Both batsmen were strong contenders for the ‘BatSixMan’ award (most number of 6’s). Both are unruly hard hitters of the ball. Smart bowling by Chandra earned Expert XI Tristaan’s wicket that was replaced by Chicago’s most technical batsmen, Abhjit Joshi (Ex USA U-19 opener and captain). Yaseen went on a runs riot scoring 70 runs (not out of 30 balls at a SR of 233%) and a winning ‘maximum’ that gripped the ‘BPL Pepsi Bash’ Champions title for CU and the ‘BatSixMan’ for Yaseen in the 7th over! CU won with 9 wickets and 12 overs comfort.

CU club members and players rejoiced with dancing to the popular cricket “Champions” track. Soon after, at the ceremony, several contributors to the event were recognized for their efforts. While Chicago United’s Skipper (Mohammed Sami) and President / Owner Nadeem Zain received the cash award and the finals MVP was undoubtedly picked by Yaseen Shaik. He topped the charts for the tournament MVP with 1636 points (430 runs in 6 matches with HS 137). With the ball, CU’s Abdul Khader and Ahmed Askari were tied at 14 wickets each. However, Abdul Khader won the ‘Best Bowler’ award for his economy rate marginally by a fraction.
The ceremony was anchored by BPL founder Mr. Ali and was attended by several dignitaries from APA (American Pakistani Association) – Mr. Talat Rashid, cricket ‘Hall of Famer’ and Ex USACA president Mr.Masood Chik, BPL Board Members, cricketers, families and supporters. The event covered by the press including Geo TV, Next TV, Urdu Times etc. As a token of encouragement, a $30,000 tournament for 2017 was announced during the ceremony. Such tournaments foster competition and good exposure to local talent resulting in development of the game.

Another exciting ‘BPL Pepsi Bash’ makes history in Chicago’s and USA cricket.