Sami slams 113 in 68 and 86 n.o. in 37 balls

Chicago United vs UCC
By Tafazzul Khan

On Saturday, June 13th, Chicago United (CU) took on their old friends, UCC in the MwCC league. CU strangely didn’t play its ‘A’ team and rested IPL player Sunny Sohal. While talented overseas player from Pakistan, Kashan Khan debuted for CU.

CU won the toss and elected to bat first on a tricky wicket. CU lost 2 quick wickets before the end of the second over and had lost 4 wickets before the total reached 50. At this point, Sami joined Sameer at the other end and started building the innings. After a couple of overs settling down, Sami started going on a rampage clobbering UCC bowlers all around the park. The score spiked from 79 to 150 runs in 10 overs. Fearless Sami is by far the cleanest hitter in Chicago. He hit a total of 11 sixes, bringing up his century in style by hitting a six over long on. Sameer played a valuable role supporting. Sami and CU finished their innings with a total of 229 for 9 after 40 overs.

UCC started their chase with some aggressive batting and reached 60 for no loss at the end of 10 overs. CU captain and impactful all-rounder Sami introduced spin and brought himself and Sharad bowling in tandem. Sharad got the first breakthrough and with a loss of a couple more wickets, UCC were around 90 for 3 after 20 overs. The bowlers bowled well taking regular wickets. At the end of 35 overs, UCC required 52 runs in 5 overs. UCC skipper, Moin played some responsible innings with good ‘maximums’. The target required was 5 runs in the last over which UCC achieved with 3 balls to spare.

It was a great game overall with friends from both sides trying to get better of each other. Of course, the highlight of the game was the splendid innings from Skipper Sami and a CU victory would have been an icing on the cake. In the end, Cricket WON in a keenly fought contest.

Bolingbrook CC vs Chicago United
By Shahmeer Khaliqdina

In another match on Sunday, June 14th, Chicago United took on Bolingbrook CC in the BPL 30/30. U-15 Keshav and 20 year old JJ Goenka, debuted for CU.

CU won the toss and elected to bat first. Although a steady start, wickets fell on a regular basis. Abhijeet batted well and stabilized the innings in the middle until Captain Cool, Sami came to the crease. The score at the 15 over mark for CU was 103. After the 15 over break, Sami cut loose and was a handful for the opponents as he scored 86 in 37 balls NOT OUT. Abhijeet also scored a cool 50 and played a good supporting innings with Sami. CU ended the innings with a final score of 275 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of 30 overs. CU started the bowling with a fierce attack led by Valkal taking 4 wickets in his first spell and Yaseen took 1. The team also had a run out. After the first 6 overs, the opponents were 20 for the loss of 6 wickets. At this point, the goal of the opponent was to play out the 30 overs by simply blocking most balls which came their way. Bolingbrook CC ended the innings scoring 143 for the loss of 8 wickets. Sami was the Man of the Match for the innings for his awesome 86 not out in 37 balls.

Player of the Week: Mohammed Sami Khan for two back-to-back splendid innings