MIT Cricket runners up in American College Cricket Northeast Championship 2018
Team continues streak of placing one round better every championship
MIT Cricket played its first league game against Northeastern, which it lost despite a brilliant counterattacking half-century from Usman Ayyaz ’17. The second game, however, resulted in the largest victory margin in the entire tournament and saw MIT on the favorable side, beating Boston University by 75 runs.
Akshat Agarwal G spearheaded the batting effort with a 43 off 27 balls whereas the spin trio of Murthy Arelekatti G, Sumit Agarwal G and Suhas Kowshik G spun a web around BU from which they could never recover. As a result, MIT finished second in the group of three and qualified for the semifinal stage.
MIT’s semifinal game against UMass Boston resulted in MIT bowling the opposition out for a measly 98 thanks to an all-around bowling effort from the pace quartet of Moiz Imam ’18, Jehangir Amjad G, Agarwal and Ayyaz. Anirudh Nambiar G then held one end up while chasing, nearly getting a half-century in the process and ensuring MIT got to the target without much hassle.
For the final game of the tournament, MIT faced off against a team they had just beaten the previous weekend: UMass Lowell. Vishrant Tripathi G and Imam got early wickets to restrict scoring towards the beginning. While chasing, MIT got themselves in a tight spot after a brilliant start, needing 65 runs off nine overs. Vaikkunth Mugunthan G and Keshav Gupta '21 then produced a partnership of 51 runs to bring MIT close to the target. MIT couldn't quite finish off the chase even after a handy half-century from Mugunthan, ending up two agonizing runs short of the target.
This was MIT's best ever performance at the annual ACC North East Championship and they have continued their trend of going one step further every year!