On day two of the national T20, Houston was beset by heavy rain. Before play began, three of the scheduled games had to be canceled, while the other three were abandoned during the first inning’s power play. As the race to the top 2 becomes closer, Mid-Atlantic and South are equal at 7 points apiece with one group game remaining, followed by South West at 5 points.
Hanchard Hamilton made the most of his shot at the top of the order against East, after he had shown courage to win the match for South with a final-ball boundary. Following Koushik Saha’s golden duck, Hamilton came to bat in the opening over and unleashed some sweeping strokes. Along the way to his spectacular knock of 60 off 33, he added 87 for the second wicket with Sanjay Stanley (41 off 31). With a last flourish of 24 off 7 deliveries, Utkarsha Srivastava gave South a daunting score of 131 in 12 overs. Syed Abdullah responded by hitting a blistering 69 off 32 tormenting the South bowlers. But the blow was in fruitless, as South won by 19 runs because of a frugal stint from Hardik Desai, who gave up 18 in his 3 overs.
After yet another poor performance by the MidWest batsmen, Mid Atlantic defeated Mid West by 7 wickets. For the third straight game, Mid West continued to trample their opponents, hindered by Fahad Babar’s deficiency of runs at the top of the order and an all-around cowardly batting style. After chasing 76 in 15 overs, a few of early blows placed Mid Atlantic in trouble. Jaskaran Malhotra declined to give Mid West any more sniffs, continuing from where he left off on the first day. Malhotra might have a better chance of rejoining the national team soon before the World Cup thanks to his quick 44 off 25 deliveries and his impressive ball hitting ability during the competition.
With three overs remaining, Harmeet Singh blasted three sixes in three deliveries as South West easily defeated West’s request of 120. Shayan Jahangir made a quick 20 from 8 deliveries, but he wasted yet another opportunity. A fresh appearance With an impressive 31 runs, Sushant Modani held the West at bay until double strikes from Nisarg Patel gave them a foot in the door. But Harmeet called the curtains in a heartbeat, pulling 24 off 6.
