USA wicketkeeper-batter Smit Patel scored his maiden international century during his team’s clinical 169-run victory over neighbours Canada in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 on Saturday. Smit remained unbeaten on 152 off 137 deliveries and shared an unbroken 208-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Milind Kumar (115 not out off 67 balls) as the Americans posted a commanding 361/3 on the board after skipper Monank Patel opted to bat in Lauderhill, Florida.
Left-arm spinner Sanjay Krishnamurthi later collected 3/10 while the trio of Harmeet Singh (2/38), Milind Kumar (2/40) and Nosthush Kenjige (2/41) collected a couple of wickets each as the Canadians were bundled out for 192 in reply, with Mansab Gill (54 not out) the only one from their batting lineup to cross 50.
Smit posted his first international century less than a year after making his debut for the United States, having scored 457 runs in 13 ODI appearances at an average of 41.54 since then, besides playing a couple of T20Is. A third of those runs were scored in Saturday’s outing at the Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium.
Who is Smit Patel?
Smit is one of several members of the American team of Indian heritage – either born to Indian parents in the US or grew up in India before settling in America. Quite a few of them began their cricketing journey in India and rose up the ranks before moving US to fulfill their dream of playing international cricket due to their inability to break into the Indian senior team.
And Smit isn’t just someone who began his cricketing journey in India, for he helped his country win the World Cup – albeit at the U-19 level. The 32-year-old, after all, was part of the Unmukt Chand-led Indian team that won the 2012 U-19 World Cup by defeating hosts Australia in the final.
USA teammate Harmeet too was part of that squad, and the two were in the XI in the final, in which Smit struck an unbeaten 62 and stitched an unbeaten 130-run stand with skipper Unmukt (111 not out) as India chased down the 226-run target set by the Aussies with six wickets and more than two overs to spare.
