Match Report: Team Red Thrashes Team East To Claim Fifth Position In The USAC 2024 - Men's National Championship

Red’s batters dominated the rain-stricken play-off after a huge total was put on board by team East

Player of the Match, Unmukt Chand, hits the maximum / Rifat Malik.

By Rifat Malik

The USAC 2024 - Men's National Championship ended on Friday, providing entertaining matches throughout the tournament. Mid-Atlantic were crowned champions after defeating Southwest in the final. In the fifth-place play-off, Team Red was up against Team East. Both the teams have had an average tournament, having won just one match up to the final day. Despite their poor performances, both teams had some very good players in their midst.

Toss and Teams

Red won the toss and decided to bowl first, which proved to be a very good decision.

East Playing XI: Achilles Browne, Akeem Dodson*, Apurva Maheshram, Earl Henningham, Gajanand Singh, Imran Uddin, Javein Thomas, Juanoy Drysdale, Rahim Dipu, Samarth Tiwari, Tanveer Ahmed

Red Playing XI: Abinav Sudershanum, Aman Patel, Arya Garg, Niket Kumar, Rehman Dar, Rishi Ramesh*, Sanat Misra, Shreyan Satheesh, Taha Farooqi, Unmukt Chand †, Varun Mantha.

Team effort by East’s batting lineup

There wasn’t any individual performance by East’s batters but thanks to their combined effort, Team East was able to score a big total of 213 on the board. Every single batter chipped in for the team, with the highest scorer for the side being Ganjanand Singh with 30. There were plenty of small but meaningful partnerships, helping to post a competitive target. It was then the same story for Red’s bowling side, as four of the bowlers took two wickets each. Skipper Rishi Ramesh was the standout player for his side with his bowling figures of 2 for 30 in nine overs.

Unmukt Chand: cometh the hour, cometh the man

Unmukt Chand, the star player on Red’s side, wasn’t to be seen throughout the tournament. He failed again and again and was yet to score past 20, disappointing his fans. However, he rose to the occasion when it mattered the most, scoring an astonishing 87 and taking the match away from East’s grab. He was well supported by Abinav Sudershanum till the end, winning the match by eight wickets. Team Red was 149 with the loss of two wickets when rain stopped the match. The D/L par score after 25 overs was 93, meaning Red won the match by 56 runs.

Player of the Match

Unmukt Chand, deservingly, was made Player of the Match.