HAVERFORD, Pa. - Haverford Cricket created a new second wicket partnership record 206 runs in a 30 overs match with Columbia on Saturday afternoon on Cope Field.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, juniors Deep Patel and Sidd Phatak opened the batting for Haverford. While Patel would depart cheaply in the third over, Senior Samanyu Kurra came in to stabilize the Fords' innings. What followed was nothing short of brilliant, with the pair lasting the remaining 27 overs to put up a 206-run partnership.  

The pair started cautiously, knocking the ball around for SAQ-fueled singles and doubles while managing to keep going rate around 6 runs an over through the first ten overs. Each batsman would take over two dozen balls a piece to get their first boundaries with Kurra reaching his in dramatic fashion.

Smashing the ball straight over the bowler's head, Kurra struck the first maximum of his college career with a lofted drive. Kurra added one more boundary to his total, along with some deep threes in his knock of 63 runs. This marked Kurra's second half century for the college and his highest personal total.  

It would be hard to describe a knock of 63 as a supporting innings were it not for the destruction with the bat that came from the other end of the crease. Matching Kurra's caution, Phatak scored just 14 off his first 30 deliveries.  However, after settling in Phatak would open the floodgates on the New York team.  Phatak went on to score an additional 97 runs in just 74 deliveries. 

Smashing the ball around the ground, Phatak's innings was highlighted by powerful drives.  Battling a slow outfield made the 10 times Phatak reached the boundary (including 3 maximums) all the more impressive. A combination of timing, grace, and pure brute force meant any ball in the air was uncatchable and any ball that missed its length would disappear. 

By the end of Haverford's 30 overs, Phatak would finish on an unbeaten 111 runs off 104 deliveries. This incredible innings makes Phatak the first centurion of Haverford cricket in the 21st century, and their record-breaking partnership is the first double hundred partnership in the new millennium as well. 

Thanks to Phatak and Kurra, Columbia had a difficult task of chasing 217 runs to win. An all-around performance by the team saw the Fords to a clinical victory, bowling out the side for 81 runs.  

After an economical start, Captain Eugene Yang began the carnage by inducing a lofted shot safely caught by first year Sanil Kagalwala.  In Yang's next over, the pair would repeat this feat.  This time a short ball saw the batsman pull the ball sharply.  Everyone was expecting this ball to sail away for a maximum but Kagalwala pulled off a near-impossible catch, using all 6' 4" of his height to snag the ball at the boundary. 

Sophomore Leo Gruenstein completed a difficult grab-on-the-run the following over to pick up Ishpuneet Singh's first scalp of the match.  Kagalwala would add to his catches, taking three wickets of his own when he was given the ball.  He twice beat the bat with his deadly yorker and once found Phatak at long-off.  

Kagalwala was not the only bowler to pick up his maiden three wicket haul.  Patel would eventually match this feat.  His first scalp came when he clean bowled a batsman with his deceptive slower ball before Kurra completed a catch for Patel's second wicket.  

After Singh clean bowled a batsman for Columbia's ninth wicket, Patel was reintroduced to the attack.  The match could not have ended any more fittingly, with Junior Aniketh Rao taking his first catch for the college off Patel's bowling.  

An all-around fielding performance which saw no dropped chances, combined with a record breaking batting performance, saw Haverford go to 3-0 in the season with a resounding 216-1 to 81-10 victory.