Saharsh Shwethan's hat-trick of sixes in the 44th over became the turning point in USA U19's opening day win over Canada U19 at the 2025 ICC Americas Men's U19 World Cup Qualifier in Georgia. 

Photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna in Rydal, Georgia (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
For 99 overs of Saturday’s of USA U19’s opening day contest against border rival Canada U19 at the 2025 ICC Americas Men’s U19 World Cup Qualifier, scoring runs took a herculean effort. The overall run rate across all but one over of play was 3.88 runs per over, paltry by modern standards. 
 
But in one solitary over, Saharsh Shwethan made clearing the boundary look effortless. His brutal assault in the 44^th over in which he slammed three consecutive sixes against offspinner Jagmandeep Paul was the turning point in the match and helped swing momentum to the host side. From 155 for 4 after 43 overs, USA’s total sat on 178 after 44 and Canada’s energy levels which had been relentless for the previous two hours suddenly fell flat. That over was the catalyst for Shwethan to power USA past 200 and helped him claim Player of the Match honors in an eventual 65-run win. 
 
“I just knew that boundary was a little smaller and I backed my ability to hit it over,” Shwethan said after the win. “One of my old coaches Jaskaran Malhotra, I actually tried to replicate the way he bats in that over and after that, it worked so I just kept going with it. But that was my thought process at that moment.”

Malhotra famously created history when he struck six sixes in an over off Papua New Guinea medium pacer Gaudi Toka in September 2021 during USA’s first ODI tour after the Covid pandemic. While Shwethan only went halfway to Malhotra’s historic burst, it was a moment of fury that electrified Param Veers Sports Complex an hour north of Atlanta. And it almost wouldn’t have been possible had a chance been held onto a few moments earlier when Shwethan was on just 1. 
 
Canada captain Yuvraj Samra had opened the bowling with medium pace after winning the toss and sending USA in to bat first. After running out Sahil Garg with a deflection onto the stumps off a straight drive from Amrinder Singh Gill in the third over, he trapped Utkarsh Srivastava lbw for 15 with a back of a length ball in the seventh over. The left-arm spin tandem of Danistor Dominic and Krishh Misra then kept USA’s scoring rate in check for the next 30 overs as Adnit Jhamb was bowled by Misra for 30 on a good length ball that skidded low. 
 
Gill’s grafting knock of 76 off 144 balls was ended by Samra in the 41^st over shortly after his return to the attack to bowl offspin as Gill dragged a delivery to deep square leg where a relay catch on the boundary was held by secondary fielder Dominic to complete the dismissal making it 145 for 4. Samra then created another chance with his offspin in his subsequent over as Shwethan’s attempted slog sweep resulted in a skied top edge inside the ring. Leg side ring fielder Ayaz Sahibi couldn’t locate the ball and it meant that Aryan Sidhu had to charge in all the way off the rope at long-on. Though he covered the ground to get to the ball coming down just inside the 30-yard circle, Sidhu’s sliding effort clanged off his hands at waist height. 
 
Collecting a single to advance to 2 off 6 balls, the dropped chance off Shwethan at first seemed innocuous with USA continuing to struggle for runs. Outside of a flurry in the sixth over when Srivastavan drove two fours and a six off Dominic, USA had only scored nine other fours and a six across the first 42-plus overs of play. But USA captain Arjun Mahesh walked across his stumps to pull Samra through square leg for four off the next ball, then took a single to end the 43^rd and keep the strike. After a two followed by a wide and a single to start the 44^th, Shwethan came back on strike to face Paul, who at that stage had miserly figures of 7.2-0-28-0 and had yet to concede a boundary on the day. He had also just had Mahesh dropped on a regulation chance at deep midwicket on 20 in his previous over in the 42^nd and was still looking like a likely wicket-taker. 
 
Seemingly out of nowhere, Shwethan erupted. His first heave cleared not only the yellow rope at long-on but the black perimeter fence 25 yards further back. The second explosion sailed wider toward cow corner and wasn’t as deep but still landed comfortably beyond the rope and boundary fielder Sahibi. Shwethan finished the sequence going much straighter over long-on as  Shivam Sharma could only turn with slumped shoulders to go back and collect the ball past the rope again. A scuffed single through square leg ended Paul’s day with figures of 0 for 47 in eight overs. 
 
How different Paul, Samra and Canada’s figures might have looked had the chances offered by both Shwethan and Mahesh been held in consecutive overs. Instead, the pair continued to power ahead as Shwethan dug into his bag of tricks for scoops and reverse sweeps to find the boundary again off Samra and medium pacer Toby Cox in the next two overs while Mahesh kept turning over the strike back to Shwethan to work his magic. Shwethan drove Sahibi’s medium pace for a straight four in the 49^th to bring up a 30-ball half-century before falling to long-on on the next ball for 52. But by that stage he and Mahesh and added 83 runs for the fifth wicket in a partnership that changed the match. Mahesh went on to make 49 off 52 balls before he was runout on the final ball of the innings coming back for a non-existent third run. However, USA’s total of 236 for 6 looked far more imposing than it did 40 minutes earlier before Shwethan went wild. 
 
Samra opened the batting and the left-handed batter drove Advaith Krishna for a straight six in a 10-run opening over. But Srivastava’s new-ball offspin ploy came off in the fourth over when Samra edged to Sahil Garg at slip for 7, triggering raucous celebrations in the field for the hosts. Canada regained momentum through Dharm Patel and Mohammad Thanvir’s 39-run second-wicket partnership before USA’s own left-arm spinners entered and replicated Canada’s stifling control from the first innings. 
 
Adit Kappa had Patel driving to Gill at long-on for 23 in the 15^th as Gill took the catch initially before flicking the ball in the air back to himself to ensure he did not step over the rope. One ball after being pulled for four, Ansh Rai corrected his length had Thanvir for 30 in the following over edging to Sahil again at slip in the 16^th. Canada would not score another boundary until the 31^st over. During that stretch, USA took another three wickets: Jhamb’s medium pace inducing a top-edged pull from Sidhu to Gill at mid-on in the 21^st for 2; then Kappa with a double-strike in the 29^th when Sharma slogged in frustration to give Gill at third catch at long-on for 9 before Misra couldn’t jam out a full delivery and was bowled first ball in a double-wicket maiden that made the score 85 for 6. 
 
By the time the final 10 overs began, Canada needed to score at better than 10 per over to notch an unlikely win. The pressure finally resulted in two more wickets for Srivastava in his return to the attack, first getting Paul to slog to Jhamb at long-on for 35 before Rohan Sikri pulled to deep midwicket for 34 to make it 152 for 8. A mixup between Sahibi and Cox resulted in the former being runout for 7 in the 48^th over before Dominic and Cox patted out the final few overs to ensure Canada was not bowled out. 
 
Kappa ended with 3 for 21 in 10 overs including three maidens. Srivastava took 3 for 32 in his 10 overs of offspin. Rai returned 1 for 40 in his 10 while Jhamb was the only non-spinner to take a wicket, ending with 1 for 28 in seven overs. Vice-captain Shiv Shani bowled a tidy spell of left-arm medium pace to end with 0 for 27 off nine overs. 
 
USA returns to action on Sunday against Bermuda. The island side won their opening day contest over Argentina by 237 runs after posting 318 for 8 in their first innings before restricting Argentina to 81 for 9 in reply.