Monank Patel scored his second half-century of the tournament in Sunday's final win over Canada, to go along with an earlier century, as he topped the scoring list with 265 runs in four innings to take home MVP honors. 

Photo credit: Willow TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
USA captain Monank Patel ended the tournament with a bang, bringing up his second half-century of the event to help chase down Canada’s first innings total of 168 with five balls to spare to win the inaugural North American T20 Cup at Jimmy Powell Oval in Grand Cayman on Sunday. Monank’s 70 off 44 balls not only secured Player of the Match honors but clinched the top spot on the tournament runs list and along with it the Player of the Tournament Award as he ended with 265 runs in four innings having not come to the crease during USA’s pair of 10-wicket wins over Bermuda. 
 
Monank arrived at the crease in the first over after Kaleem Sana struck five balls into the USA chase by getting Shayan Jahangir to play away from his body fending an edge behind for 2. But Monank counter-attacked along with Sai Mukkamalla to take USA to 71 for 1 by the end of the Powerplay, their best six-over total of the tournament. Mukkamalla got the wheels going in the second over by driving Thaker over extra cover for 4 before Monank’s first boundary came in streaky fashion in the third when he edged a length ball from Sana wide of Shreyas Movva behind the stumps to go to the third man rope for his first boundary. 
 
But Monank was more assured against offspinner Harsh Thaker in the fourth, backing away to drive him back over his head and then pull him over mid-on for a pair of fours. Monank revved things up in the fifth over against medium pacer Akhil Kumar, flicking him over midwicket for four before driving him down the ground through mid-on for another boundary. When Kumar tried to correct his length once again, Monank walked across his stumps and pulled a length ball flat over backward square leg for six. 
 
The USA captain began the sixth over against Jaskaran Singh punching him through mid-off for four before a no-ball on the third delivery was driven through mid-on for four more. After digging out the free hit to cover for a single to put Mukkamalla on strike, the junior partner muscled a length ball over mid-on for six before ending the Powerplay by guiding a wider delivery through backward point for four. 
 
The rampaging 70-run partnership between the pair finally came to an end when Mukkamalla overbalanced trying to flick a leg side wide from left-arm spinner Saad Bin Zafar and was out stumped for 21 off 11 balls to make it 74 for 2. Monank brought up his half-century off 26 balls by swatting Thaker for a single to long-on before he ended the eighth over by punching Thaker just above his outstretched leap to the mid-off rope for his eighth and final boundary. 
 
That was the last boundary USA would hit for more than six overs as they began a 44-ball stretch without one. However, the early onslaught meant that they were still comfortably ahead of the required run rate. Yet Canada’s mild bit of pressure to clog up the rope started to lead to wickets. Monank fell in the 13^th, driving Saad to wide long-off to make it 112 for 3. Aaron Jones then got into a terrible mixup with Milind Kumar in the 14^th over, leading to the former vice-captain being runout for 3. Jones drove Akhil Kumar to wide long-off for a long single and turned back for a second. Milind responded initially before changing his mind upon seeing the relay from Jaskaran come to the bowler’s end and both batters wound up at the same end with Jones given out to make it 118 for 4. 
 
It took the arrival of Sanjay Krishnamurthi to break USA’s boundary drought and calm any nerves that started to build. With USA suddenly needing 41 off 28 balls, Krishnamurthi drove Thaker over long-on for six in the 16^th over. He continued the aggression against Jaskaran in the 18^th, driving him for six over long-on. A leg-side wide followed before a length ball wide outside off was slapped flat over extra cover for four. 
 
Back on strike on the second ball of the 19^th, Krishnamurthi intentionally guided a length ball from Sana wide of the keeper to the third man rope for four to bring the equation down to 2 off 10 balls. After a single leveled the scores, Milind middled the next ball to a fielder, dug out a yorker on the fifth delivery before picking out a ring fielder once more to end the over. Krishnamurthi then started the 20^th over driving the first ball to cover before the winning run was recorded in comical circumstances when Jaskaran bowled Krishnamurthi on a failed heave across the line only for the umpire to stretch out his right arm to signal the bowler had overstepped for a no ball to end the match and allow Krishnamurthi to officially remain not out on 29 off 16 balls. Milind ended unbeaten on 31 off 38 balls. 
 
Saad had Canada’s best figures on the day, returning 2 for 20 off four. Sana was Canada’s only other wicket-taker, claiming 1 for 28 off his four and ended with 15 wickets in the event behind only USA legspinner Yasir Mohammad’s 16. Thaker, who historically has given USA fits, ended as Canada’s most expensive bowler on the day conceding 0 for 42 off his four. Jaskaran was Canada’s least economical, giving away 39 off 3.1 overs. 
 
USA dominated the majority of the first innings as well and it initially looked like the match would be a blowout when Canada lost two wickets in the first two overs and kept sliding to reach 99 for 7 by the 15^th. Jessy Singh got the day started for USA by claiming Ali Nadeem for 1 off the fourth ball of play after Canada chose to bat first and Milind’s new-ball offspin claimed captain Navneet Dhaliwal for 1 in the following over to make it 2 for 2. 
 
Yuvraj Samra and Movva gave Canada some breathing room with a 41-run stand for the third wicket that Milind ended on the last ball of the Powerplay when Samra cleared the front leg and missed a leg side heave to have his leg stump knocked back for 23. Movva fell in the ninth over for 19 when he failed to control a cut against Ayan Desai angling his left-arm pace over the wicket and a catch was taken by Mukkamalla at backward point to make it 53 for 4. Desai took his second in the 11^th when Thaker backed away to try to access the off side and was bowled for 10 to make it 72 for 5. Mohammad took his tournament-best 16^thwicket in the 14^th when Saad tried to clear the extra cover rope but was caught by Jones for 19 to make it 97 for 6. Two runs later in the following over, Jessy Singh pinned Ravinderpal Singh with a full delivery to win an lbw appeal for 18. 
 
But from 99 for 7, Canada stormed back into the match thanks to Jaskaran’s brutal assault on Mohammad in the 17^th over, in which he slammed four consecutive sixes off the legspinner. A teasing flighted delivery was left alone to start the over, but Jaskaran couldn’t hold back on the second delivery and launched a flighted full ball over long-on. Mohammad went wider outside off on the third ball only to be driven over the long-off rope. Dragging his length back off the next two balls didn’t alter the result as Jaskaran went onto the back foot to pull him twice over wide long-on for two more maximums before the over ended tamely with a slap to long-on along the ground for one. 
 
Jaskaran ended the 18^th over hitting Netravalkar for four to bring up the half-century partnership with tailender Sana and move his score to 49. But USA started to end the fun in the 19^th as Sana was bowled by a length delivery from Jessy for 7 to end a 54-run partnership. After a single by new man Akhil Kumar to get off the mark, Jaskaran then hit a single to bring up his half-century off 20 balls but never got a chance to celebrate after Akhil was runout for 7 on the same delivery to make it 155 for 9. Jaskaran had flicked the ball to wide long-on and Akhil never hesitated to charge back for the non-striker’s end wanting to keep Jaskaran on strike, but Jaskaran put his hand up to turn down the run and Akhil was stranded halfway down the pitch by the time Mohammad’s relay from long-on reached Jahangir to take off the bails. 
 
Jaskaran struck Netravalkar for four off the first ball of the 20^th and should have been caught by Krishnamurthi off the final ball of the innings at long-off but the former USA captain was signaled for a no-ball and had to rebowl the final ball. An attempted wide yorker turned into a low full toss sliced over point for a boundary to take Jaskaran to 60 not out off 26 balls and Canada to a final total of 168 for 9. Despite Jaskaran’s late first innings fireworks, it wasn’t enough for Canada in the end. 
 
Jessy continued his impressive performances in the knockout stage to finish with 3 for 22 off his four overs. Milind ended with 2 for 21 off four to have USA’s best figures on the day. Desai took a solid 2 for 29 off his four overs while Mohammad’s figures were spoiled by his final over to Jaskaran and ended with 1 for 44 in four. Netravalkar had another quiet day and was USA’s only bowler to go without a wicket, conceding 0 for 50 off four overs. 
 
USA’s next scheduled action comes in May when they are scheduled to host Canada and Oman for a six-match ODI tri-series as part of ICC Cricket World Cup League Two. USA’s first match in that series will be played against Canada at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas on May 17.