JJ and Sami pilot CU’s victory
Purdue vs Chicago United
West Lafayette, IN offered a gloomy day, north-west winds and 75 degrees for the Purdue vs Chicago United (CU) match. Timely arrival of the CU squad was welcomed by Purdue players already warming up. Good indicator of an exciting match ahead. CU players checked out the wicket and had some warm up and stretching drills. CU had new debutants – Jamaican national player Andre Dwyer and India’s U19 state player Sikandar Gill.
Purdue made the correct call with the coin and elected to bat. Purdue’s openers started very well but lost their 1st wicket at 52 in the 11th over. Opener Shankar scored a well-balanced 54. CU’s skipper, Sami took a brilliant one handed stretched-out catch to dismiss Purdue’s 2nd wicket off Sharad’s ball at 92. Andre troubled the batsmen from his very 1st ball. JJ Goenka and Andre (8-0-24-2) bowled very tight as Purdue kept the score ticking slowly with the singles and doubles. CU’s Keeper, Sanjay added a fabulous stumping and a catch to pick the 1st and last wicket of Purdue. Purdue lost most of their wickets in the second session of their innings and were restricted to 169 all out. Young and talented, JJ Goenka looped the ball with 7.2-1-31-4. CU’s fielding looked good – no dropped catches! Abhijit and Sikandar’s agility in fielding and some exceptional catches by them were exemplary.
Going into bat, CU openers Abhijit and Yaseen knew the challenges of the wicket to achieve 170 runs. Earlier in the innings, CU batting faced some turbulence. Both openers were looking comfortable but lost their wickets cheaply as CU was troubled by Purdue bowlers at 37/2. Sharad and kashan picked up several runs, many of which came of a single bounce to the boundary. Kashan was dismissed by a spectacular catch by Nagraj. Sharad’s stylish batting complimented by effortless lofts towards the boundary came to end, when he was cheaply caught in the short-fine leg area.
Although Purdue had dropped a few catches, at this point of the match; CU’s batting was in turmoil with 94/4. Skipper Sami, demonstrated true leadership and played very intelligent cricket. At regular intervals, Sami surprised the Purdue bowlers with his iconic power shots way across the boundary. He scored a very valuable 40 runs and built a 70 runs partnership with Andre. Andre quickly adapted to the wicket conditions and scored an impactful 35 not out. He played a very vital supporting role with the bat and ball. Sikandar batted very sensibly. Andre scored a ‘maximum’ over the bowler to win the match. Both the CU debutants returned back to stands with a memorable victory with 5 overs and 5 wickets to spare.
Indeed some brilliant batting, bowling and fielding by both teams. Man of the match was awarded to J.J. Goenka
