USA wicketkeeper Smit Patel scored his first international century today, against Canada.
Patel was in action for the USA against Canada in the opening game of the USA-Canada-Oman tri-series, part of the Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament.
Match 68, USA vs Canada
vs
- Ball by ball Over
USA skipper Monank Patel won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Andries Gous, fresh off a Pakistan Super League stint with Islamabad United, was the first to depart for four, caught behind off the bowling of Kaleem Sana.
The two Patels, Monank and Smit, then came together to put on 78 for the second wicket. Monank dominated the stand before he was dismissed for 47 off 44 balls as Smit played second fiddle, eventually getting to a half-century off 69 balls.
Smit Patel scores maiden international century
Thereafter, Patel stepped on the accelerator. His next 50 runs came off 41 balls, bringing up a century off 110 deliveries – his first three-figure score in international cricket. Prior to this match, he had played 12 ODIs and two T20Is, scoring two half-centuries and registering a high score of 70.
Patel's next 27 balls yielded 52 runs, and he finished on an unbeaten 152 off 137 balls – the third-highest individual score by a USA batter in ODIs. No.5 batter Milind Kumar also slammed a century, finishing not out on 115 off 67 balls. The pair put on 208 runs for the fourth wicket – one short of USA's highest partnership for any wicket in ODI cricket.
Who is Smit Patel?
This is not the first time the 32-year-old Patel has come to prominence, though. He was the wicketkeeper for India during the 2012 U19 World Cup, as they lifted the trophy. In the final against Australia, India had slipped to 97-4 in pursuit of 226, before Patel walked in and scored 62*, putting on 130 with skipper Unmukt Chand (111*) as well as hitting the winning runs.
Patel has represented Baroda, Goa, Gujarat and Tripura on the Indian domestic circuit – scoring 3,278 first-class runs including 11 centuries. His most recent three-figure effort was a 236 for Goa against Mizoram in 2020. He was, unfortunately, unable to make it to the Indian senior team, and in May 2021 retired from all cricket under the remit of the BCCI, allowing him to represent the USA.
In the USA team currently in action, Milind Kumar has played for Delhi, while Harmeet Singh and Saurabh Netravalkar have played for Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. Skipper Monank Patel has played for Gujarat U19s.
At the drinks break in the second innings, Canada were 67-1, still needing 295 runs from 34 overs.
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