Chicago Cricket: Rowdies beat Hurricanes yet again in an exciting last-over thriller

The Chicago Rowdies beat the Chicago Hurricanes yet again for four out of six games, in a cricket match held at the Skokie Sports Park in Skokie, Illinois, September 6, 2022.

Both teams were in the running to claim the top spot at the Chicago cricket club leagues, which would ensure a direct entry to the finals. They were in the top 3 followed very closely by The Destroyers, a press release from Asian Media USA said.

At the September 6 game, Rowdies won the toss and decided to bat first, the same as the last encounter with Hurricanes. The Skokie ground has proven favorable fifty percent of the time, to the team batting first, which could have influenced their decision.

Wasim and Moin Patel opened the innings for Rowdies but were able to do very little against the opening bowlers Pruthvish Patel and Garv Khera. Moin who was striking well was the first to fall at a mere 20 runs to Purthvish. Wasim followed soon after with only 4 runs. Sohel Patel and Mohsin Detraliya showed aggression with their partnership of 55 runs.

Ayaz Patel who came after Sohel also managed to put in a good partnership with Mohsin for 44 runs. Javid Patel’s 33 off 12 balls was the highlight of the game. At a strike rate of 275.00 it was a sight to be seen. The Rowdies managed to put some more runs up with their middle and lower order batting supportively to end at 216 runs, a massive target to chase.

In the absence of Dhairya Mistry, Urvsish opened the innings with Ravi Shah, who has been known to dabble in the opening if needed. However, this time Javid got him out for a cheap 5 run stint to a lbw. Sargam Patel, the next batter in line, started off slow but gained momentum. He managed to put up 2 partnerships back-to-back with Pruthvish for 81 runs and with Manan for 79 runs. He succumbed to a catch by Javid off Saeed Gantiwala, but not before he scored a whopping 75 of 50 balls. Pruthvish and Manan both put up 53 and 50 runs to the total.

All the efforts from Hurricanes could only get them close to total but not to the win. Rowdies won this exciting match by 6 runs. Javid Patel was adjudged the Player of the Match for his contribution with his bat 33/12 and 2 wickets for an econ rate of 7.75

The guest of honor Manishkumar Patel from Nirav Foods was also among the spectators at this exciting match. An active supporter of the club for more than 2 decades, he said he enjoyed the competition between Hurricanes and Rowdies. This was the first time Nirav Foods supported the game at the league level.

Manishkumar Patel said he believes in giving back to the community and what better way to give back than to a game that has been the core of the South Asian community. He reminisced that 25 years ago Indians and Pakistanis would have to find a way to congregate, and cricket helped them, just like the Nirav brand helped the immigrant families keep their culture alive through fresh food and masala.

Score: Chicago Rowdies: 216/7(20.0 OVERS) Chicago Hurricanes: 210/6 (20.0 OVERS)

Result: Chicago Rowdies won by 6 Run(s)

Player of the Match: Javid Patel