HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College Cricket team wrapped up the 2024 fall slate with a pair of weekend matches, running its fall record to 7-1 after splitting with Mad Dogs (Conn.) and Penn State on Cope Field.
Haverford vs. Mad Dogs
Haverford College secured an impressive 49-run win over Mad Dogs from the New York area on Saturday at Cope Field. Haverford batted first, scoring 215 for seven wickets in the allotted 30 overs. Mohanish Bajaj scored an excellent 59 (his fourth consecutive half-century) and had an opening partnership of 79 with Sidd Phatak (30). Sanil Kagalwala (20), Agastya Singh (18), Leo Gruenstein (18), and Ishpuneet Singh (17) also made good contributions to the total.
Upal and Joe Simon from Mad Dogs both took two wickets for 22 and 35 runs, respectively. In reply, Mad Dogs scored 166 for seven wickets. Monish Jadhav (32), John Moore (26), Parveen Karatti (23) and John Simon (35) were the top scorers for Mad Dogs.
Nihaal Kocher bowled well, taking two wickets for 14 runs. Ishpuneet Singh took three wickets for 29 runs, Sanil Kagalwala and Sidd Phatak each claimed two wickets for 40 runs, and Agastya Singh took one wicket for one run in one over.
Haverford vs. Penn State
A very strong Penn State team won a nail biter on Sunday at Cope Field with just two balls remaining in the match. Penn State has a very robust cricket program with a roster of 40 and recently lost a close match to last year's Inter-Collegiate Champions, University of Maryland. Haverford's performance in this match showed the progress it has made in the cricket program. The match could have gone either way, with Penn State having to make 36 runs in three overs, and to the credit of the Nittany Lions, they made the runs with two balls to spare.
Haverford College batted first and put up a very impressive opening partnership of 115 runs between Sidd Phatak, 89 not out and Mohanish Bajaj, 47. Both of them played beautifully with excellent stroke play on all sides of the wicket. Haverford ended up scoring 188 for three wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Penn State had a fiery start with 54 runs in four overs; however, the run rate came down with the fall of a couple of wickets. The Penn State players showed their talent (five of them have represented their countries of origin national under-19 teams) and batted very aggressively. The match had tilted in Haverford's favor after 17 overs were bowled, and Penn State had to score 37 runs to win, and to their credit, they scored the runs with two balls to spare.
Anirudh Tandon (49), Kritik Sivachitravel (44), and Harshul Nagpal (41 not out) played extremely well and led their team to victory.
Agastya Singh took two wickets for 47 runs. Ishpuneet Singh and Sidd Phatak took one wicket each for 22 and 38 runs, respectively. One of Haverford's main bowlers, Sanil Kagalwala, could not bowl because of a shoulder injury, which made a huge difference in the outcome of the match.
Haverford finished 7-1 this fall season, and the team should be proud of this accomplishment. It was a devastating loss, but I'm confident the team learned a lot from this match.