The left-handed tandem of Kunwarjeet Singh and Prannav Chettipalayam overwhelmed Southwest's bowling unit with an unbroken 148-run second-wicket partnership to take Mid Atlantic to the USA Men's tournament title in a nine-wicket win. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Los Angeles (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Mid Atlantic’s success in recent years at national tournaments continued once again in Los Angeles on Friday as the zone completed an undefeated run to the tournament title by chasing a target of 157 with 15.3 overs to spare in a nine-wicket win over Southwest in the final of the 2024 USA Cricket Men’s 45-over National Championship at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, California. 

 
Kunwarjeet Singh followup up his half-century in a win over West a day earlier with another unbeaten fifty in the successful chase. He paired with Pranav Chettipalayam, who scored his second fifty of the event after doing so on day one of the tournament, to produce an unbroken 148-run second-wicket partnership after the pair came together at the end of the second over after the fall of Ritwik Behera for 1. Kunwarjeet brought up his half-century off 52 balls with a boundary slugged through mid-on followed by a single to end the 19^th over. Chettipalayam took 62 balls to get to the landmark before raising it with a boundary driven over extra cover in the 22^nd over. The left-handed opener eventually ended on 71 not out off 88 balls with nine fours and a six while Kunwarjeet finished on 72 not out off 83 balls with seven fours and two sixes. 
 
Both teams were playing shorthanded on the day as Mid Atlantic were without original captain Jessy Singh, who went home on the eve of the final after playing just one match. Sai Mukkamalla also sat out the final while nursing a leg injury sustained earlier in the tournament. Southwest played the match without Shayan Jahangir, who had scored a century a day earlier in their side’s win over South Zone to get to the final. Harmeet Singh, who had top-scored for Southwest in the first innings with 50 off 70 balls in their total of 156 all out in 42 overs, did not bowl at all in the chase after leaving the ground early in Mid Atlantic’s chase to head to the airport for a flight home to Texas. 
 
In spite of the absences, Southwest still held the edge going into the day on paper with far more heralded names in their XI in terms of USA national team representation. They got off to a solid start as well with a 50-run opening stand generated by USA teammates Sushant Modani and Smit Patel. But tournament leading wicket-taker Stephen Wiig finally dislodged Modani for 19 in the 10^th over before Noman Iftikhar claimed Smit for 29 in the 13^th. 
 
From there, Southwest crumbled badly to the spin duo of Dhruv Pawar and Preet Shah, who combined to take figures of 6 for 54 across 18 overs. Pawar claimed two in three balls in the 14^th over with his left-arm spin, including the massive blow of Ali Sheikh for a second-ball duck after closing the bat face early to produce a leading edge and a gentle catch back to the bowler. Shah had Nitish Kumar stumped for 14 after missing a flick to a carrom ball that resulted in the right-hander overbalancing, then ripped three more wickets out to make it 111 for 8 and run away with Player of the Match honors for his 4 for 23. 
 
Harmeet tried to provide some resistance as he continued to run out of partners having entered at No. 6. After seeing off Shah and Pawar, he tried to take on Behera’s offspin but top-edged a pull shot that swirled overhead before the keeper pouched it to end his knock on an even 50 to make it 141 for 9. Stand-in captain Yasir Mohammad took the final wicket of Shuja Naqvi to end the 42^nd, leaving a total which was easily hauled down. 
 
In the third place match, South won a low-scoring nailbiter over West Zone by one wicket, scratching past a target of 128 with 7.3 overs to spare. Utkarsh Srivastava was named Player of the Match after taking figures of 2 for 9 in seven overs with three maidens with his offspin, in addition to two catches in the field, before also chipping in with a crucial 20 runs in the chase.
 
Rahul Jariwala (34 off 51) and Skanda Rohit Sharma (43 off 62), teamed for a 58-run third-wicket partnership to take West to 79 for 2 after the early losses of Sanjay Krishnamurthi and Zahid Zakhil. But they were the only two to cross double-digits for West and a speedy collapse followed both of their dismissals as the last six wickets fell for just 13 runs during an innings that lasted just 37 overs. 
 
Danush Kaveripakam top-scored with 30 in the South chase, but left-arm pacer Ayan Desai dismissed him for the eighth wicket to start the  33^rd over and followed it three balls later claiming a return catch off Akhil Posa to put West one wicket away from victory at 116 for 9. Adam Khan made sure that South would not be denied however, calmly tapping ones and twos over the remaining overs to get South across the line with 21 not out from No. 9, including the winning runs hit off Saurabh Netravalkar in the 38^th over. Desai finished with 3 for 30 in a losing effort while Zakhil took 3 for 13 in nine overs. 
 
USA Red won the fifth place match by 56 runs on DLS Method over East Zone. Set a target of 214, Red were cruising at 149 for 2 after 25 overs when a rare Los Angeles rain shower swept across Woodley Park and halted play as the contest was the only one still ongoing at the time. Unmukt Chand looked well on course for a century at the time and had to settle for ending on 87 not out off 75 balls to claim Player of the Match honors as play could not be resumed with the DLS Par score at the time sitting on 94. He shared a 103-run third-wicket stand with Abinav Sudershanum, who finished 34 not out off 44 balls. 
 
East had posted the largest first innings total of any team on the final day, but still could not manage to bat out their overs as they were bowled out for 213 in 44 overs. Six players crossed 20 for East, but none did better than Gajanand Singh’s 30 off 26 balls at No. 3. Taha Farooqi, Sanat Misra, Aman Patel and Rishi Ramesh all took two wickets for USA Red. 
 
In the wooden spoon match, USA Blue chased down a target of 155 with 13.1 overs to spare to beat Midwest by four wickets. Sujith Gowda completed a brilliant all-round display with 5 for 33 including three maidens across nine overs in the first innings to help bowl out Midwest for 154 in 38.2 overs before then capping his day by top-scoring with 63 off 80 balls to lead off the chase. 
 
Mittansh Nithiyanandam made 54 off 80 balls to help keep Midwest in the match after they lost two wickets in the opening over over play to Rayaan Bhagani, who ended with 3 for 22 in 4.2 overs. But Gowda continued to rip through Nithiyanandam’s partners at the other end until he finally succumbed to Gowda himself as the ninth wicket in the 31^st over and last one in Gowda’s five-wicket haul. Rayhan Ahmed scored 21 not out off 20 balls at No. 11 before taking 3 for 28 in seven overs with the ball for Midwest. 
 
Gowda and Wiig both finished tied for the tournament lead with nine wickets, though Wiig’s average (10.22) and economy (3.41) were both superior to Gowda. Aaron Jones finished as the highest scorer in the tournament after his two centuries to begin the event propelled him to 234 runs overall. Ali Sheikh finished second behind Jones with 184 runs, but topped the averages list at 92.00 after being dismissed just twice following his unbeaten century on day one.