News

US tour of India huge success

Amjad Khan reports on a USA Invitational XIs successful trip to India, a venture which will be repeated in 2006

12-Apr-2005
Amjad Khan, a former first-class cricketer from Kashmir, has represented the New York Region and USA National teams, and holds the record for the highest individual score in North America - In 1999, Khan scored 304 not out in a team total of 436 for 7 in a quarter-final game in the Northern California Cricket Association. He also won Man-of-the-Match awards playing for the USA against Barbados and Bermuda. This is his personal report on his recent tour of Hyderabad, India as captain of the USA Invitational XI
As I led the US Invitational XI onto the lush green Gymkhana Cricket ground in Hyderabad for pre-match warm up against the Hyderabad Under-25 team, on one side of the ground, I could see a bunch of young and energetic cricketers lined up and responding to the instructions of, "Golay kay neechay aao, golay kay neechay aao" (get underneath the ball, get underneath the ball).
As I approached a familiar looking figure, I immediately recognised Mr Kaleemudin, who happened to be my coach some 20 years ago in Kashmir. Kaleemudin is a well-respected coach in Hyderabad and has helped the budding cricket nursery in the historic city over the last couple of decades After meeting with him, I felt right at home and proceeded to get down to the business of playing cricket against some quality sides in Hyderabad.
The tour was organized by the Central East Zone of the United States Cricket Association (USACA) led by Khurram Syed and Syed Masood Chik from the American Cricket Conference. These two gentlemen, at the invitation of Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) vice-president, Ranga Reddy, and the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), put together a USA Invitational XI team composed of established and younger players from across the USA to tour Hyderabad.
The team was originally supposed to be led by current USA vice-captain, Nasir Javed (Charlie), but he could not make the trip and I was given the honor of leading the side.
The tour began with a royal welcome at the Hyderabad airport, where several officials from HCA were ready to garland each member of the squad. Several pressmen were ready with their cameras and microphones. As I saw this grand reception, my thoughts at once went to the expectations that must have been associated with our team's performances and the quality of players we would be pitted against.
Our first game was against the Hyderabad Under-25 team, led by Ranji Trophy player Quadri, at the Gymkhana ground. Quadri, a small man with supple wrists, reminded me of Azharuddin, as he dispatched balls over midwicket boundary with consummate ease. He top scored with 88 not out in a team total of 199 for 4. US Invitational XI responded well through contributions from young Duane Nathaniel, Rashid Afzal, Weekes and myself only to see us fall short by 20 runs in the end. Hitesh Patel bowled well taking two wickets.
The opposition in the next six games included premier division teams such as the Water Works Division (led by former Indian left-arm spinner, Venkatpathy Raju), India Cements, Telangana, Combined District Association as well as Hyderabad Veterans, who had just won the South Zone veterans trophy.
The overall record of the USA Invitational XI was as follows; played seven, won three, lost three and tied one (against Hyderabad Veterans)
This was probably not a true reflection of our efforts. In hindsight, we could have won all the matches only if we had held on to the chances that came our way. Almost all the games went down to the wire, and our inexperience in tight finishes showed in the outcome. But far from the results, I feel that the team members had a tremendous experience of playing on good turf wickets against quality opposition.
Overall, the performance was good, with few individuals showing their full capabilities. Allround performances from myself (241 runs and 6 wickets) and Jignesh Desai (209 runs and 8 wickets) led the way for our team. Also, Roy Weekes (183 runs), Amer Afzaludin (126 runs), Hitesh Patel (10 wickets) and young Duane Nathaniel (103 runs and 5 wickets) also chipped in with useful contributions. The younger players on the team, such as Amer Afzaluddin and Duane Nathaniel, turned in especially gratifying performances on their first international tour, and show promise of solid contributions to US cricket in the future.
This was the first time that a USA team has ever toured India. We were all interested in knowing how we were going to be received. From the beginning, there were few doubts on this score. The media coverage and hospitality in Hyderabad was just tremendous.
As a signal honour for the visitors, the USA Invitational XI became the first international team to play at the brand new state-of-the-art stadium at Uppal. The uniqueness of the event led a reporter from Aaj Tak, a premier news channel in India, to come to the new stadium at Uppal to cover our tour. Her first reaction was, "How come there are no whites on the US team"? I had to explain to her that a majority of the roughly 10,000 active players in the US were immigrants from the Caribbean islands and South Asia.
Wherever the team went, during press conferences at the historic Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium, the correspondents from leading Indian dailies, such as the Times of India and The Hindu wanted to know about cricket in America. They wanted to know who the players were, who ran it, and how many leagues and players there were in the USA. We were overwhelmed by their friendly curiosity, and did our best to answer the millions of queries that were thrown at us.
Due to the success of the tour and generous hospitality by the Hyderabad Cricket Association, it was decided on all sides that the tour of the USA Invitational XI would become an annual event. Thee next trip is already in the works for January 2006.
At the same time, the Hyderabad Cricket Association will be sending a team to participate in the highly popular prize-money tournament, the Los Angeles Open, during the first week of July 2005.
The top performers on the tour were as follows:
Batting
1. Amjad Khan - 9, 27, 37, 31, 56, 32, 49 - Total 241 runs @ 34.42 runs
2. Jignesh Desai - 1, 59*, 1, 36, 7, 43, 62 - Total 209 runs @ 34.83 runs
3. Roy Weekes - 29, 38, 8, 66, 42, 0, 0 - Total 183 runs @ 26.14 runs
Bowling
1. Hitendra Patel - 2/38, 1/39, 1/35, 1/42, 1/37, 4 for 26 - Total 10 wickets
2. Jignesh Desai - 2/23, 1/32, 1/26, 1/14, 3 for 36 - Total 8 wickets
3. Amjad Khan - 1/1, 2/31, 1/17, 2/13 - Total 6 wickets