ICMC WINS 2011 Chicago T20 Cricket Carnival

The first ever T20 Cricket Carnival was held in Glendale Heights, Illinois from July 2 to 4, 2011 and was organized by American Cricket Conference. It was a grandeur event participated by 12 teams not only from within the United States but also from India and New Zealand. The player's pool consisted of players from all levels of cricket including Test, First Class, domestic, and Indian Premier League. But in the end there was only one winner: International Cricket Management Corporation (ICMC), who forever embedded their name in history as the first champions of the inaugural 2011 Chicago Cricket Carnival.

ICMC was founded and is owned/operated by Asif S. Hussain and Khurram Syed. ICMC's main objective is to promote cricket and cricketers in the United States of America and India/Pakistan. In the past, ICMC teams also participated in the well known Annual Moin-ud-Dowla Cricket Tournament in Hyderabad, India. From time to time, ICMC also invites international cricketers to USA to play, coach and promote cricket.

The Tournament

ICMC easily won all of its Group C matches, beating Streamwood by 175 runs, Hyderabad Veterans by 9 wickets, and Virginia Falcons by 160 runs. The unbeaten ICMC entered the playoffs as the top favorites and they delivered as expected beating Cougars by 80 runs in the semi final, and then beating US Tigers by 5 wickets in the Finals. The man of the series was awarded to Sushil Nadkarni and the finals man of the match was awarded to Ashar Mehdi.

ICMC boasted a dream team consisting of four international, five US National, and five Division 1 US League players. This dream team not only helped ICMC win the championship but also thrilled and awed the crowd with their brilliant display of cricket and athleticism. In addition, they were successful in invigorating cricket enthusiasm among cricket fans, fellow cricketers, and also in the hearts of Village of Glendale Heights officials and sponsors.

The Dream Team

Hasan Raza (Pakistan, Test cricket):
Scored 267 runs and took 4 wickets in 5 innings.

Hasan was the youngest player to debut in Test cricket for Pakistan national team. He is not only a superb cricketer but is very personable and down to earth. He made lots of fans and friends during the tournament with his stylish batting and all round performance, and humble personality. To the joy of the fans, he scored 4 fifties and got out only once in the entire tournament. He punished all bowlers with brilliant sixes and powerful ground drives. He is an all round team player who held long partnerships with other batsmen that helped the team build solid innings. He also provided moral support, encouragement, and cricket advice to younger players on and off the field which made them raise their level of play and performance up a notch.

Nasir Jamsheed (Pakistan, Test and First Class One Day cricket)
Scored 198 runs in 4 Innings.

Nasir is an elegant left hand batsman who joined the ICMC team for the carnival after travelling 24 hours from Pakistan where he was playing in the T20 National Championship. His fitness, commitment, and the love of cricket enabled him to overcome the jetlag as he provided ICMC team with good batting foundation that helped the team score huge totals. He played some marvelous, Sachin Tendulkar like, straight drives that kept the fans in awe. His shot selection also included well timed ground strokes that reached the boundary all over the field. He has a great potential to be an exceptional cricketer at the international level.

Asad Pathan (India, Bangalore Royal Challengers in IPL, and Ranji cricket)
Scored 184 Runs in 5 Innings.

Asad Pathan started playing cricket in the dusty alleys of Ankleshwar, India and then went to South Africa to play in the Limpopo province for one and half years. Asad currently plays for Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League. This was his first tour of United States. Being the youngest player in the ICMC team, he played brilliantly and won the hearts of the spectators and team mates with his hard hitting batting style. In the finals, he played a quick innings hitting boundaries and sixes at will and scored 44 runs in just 18 balls. He also displayed his exceptional fielding talents which reminded the spectators of the great fielders like Azhar, Raina and Yuvraj.

Naseer Islam, Captain (USA, First Class cricket and US national team)
Took 9 wickets in 5 matches

Naseer played cricket in all regions of the United States Cricket Association and has extensive experience in all aspects of the game, hence he was the unanimous choice to the lead the ICMC team. He was one of the players who helped USA cricket team to qualify for the Cricket World Cup in 2004. He is considered one of the best all-rounders in the USA Team and very popular with the fan base in the United States. In this tournament, he didn't get much opportunity to display his batting skills as he hardly got a chance to bat but he proved his worth by taking 9 wickets and breaking crucial partnerships. His best performance was in the semis and the finals in which he took 3 wickets each to secure easy wins for the team.

Adam Sanford (West Indies, Test and First Class One Day cricket)
Took 5 wickets

Adam played 11 international matches for West Indies and took 30 wickets. He is a prolific fast bowler and well respected in the North America cricket community for his talents, attitude and personality. In the tournament, most of the opponent batsmen couldn't even attempt to play his fast and swing bowling which not only made life miserable for opponents but it also gave chills to his own wicket keeper and slip fielders. Although he was unfortunate to not take more wickets but he contributed by bowling the most economical spells in all the matches.

Ashhar Mehdi (USA, First Class cricket and US national team)
Finals MVP - 5 Catches and 4 Stumps

Ashar is Chicago's local hero and a favorite cricketer. He is considered as one of the best wicket keeper in entire North American cricket community and was awarded Best Wicket Keeper many times while representing USA Team in various tournaments. Ashar is not only a good wicket but he is also a brilliant hard-hitting batsman who can completely destroy opponent's bowling attack at will and change the course of a game. The highlight of his performance in this tournament came in the finals in which he took 3 catches behind the stumps, one of which while diving in the first slips area, and stumped 2 batsmen thus earning the finals MVP award. He didn't get much opportunity to bat in the tournament but when the team needed him in the finals, he scored 35runs not out in 11 balls and brought the team a championship.

Sushil Nadkarni (USA, First Class cricket and US national team)
Series MVP, scored 344 runs in 4 innings with 2 unbeaten centuries

The star of the Chicago Cricket Carnival and the series MVP is considered the most prolific run scorer in North America for past three years. He is well known for pulling his teams out from a complete batting collapse on many occasions and is rightfully respected and admired by his US Team captain and fellow team mates. His performance in the T20 Chicago Carnival was one for the highlight reel and will be remembered for a long time. Playing continuously for three days in a row in the hot and humid Chicago summer, he had the fitness and stamina to score two centuries and one fifty in just 105 balls, a pace that is unheard of in US T20 cricket. Thus negating his critics and national US team selectors who dropped him from the USA T20 squad thinking he is only good for a 50 overs match. Sushil has the right technique, temperament and skills to play any format of cricket and has proved conclusively that his talents are a perfect fit for a 20 overs match by playing every shot in the book with breathtaking boundaries and sixes. The way he scored both of his centuries in the tournament says it all about his rapid fire style of batting. It took him only 20 to 25 balls to score the first fifty runs and then scored the next fifty runs in just 10 balls. The highlight of the tournament was when he punished a very good bowler for 5 sixes in one over, entertaining the crowd with hitting each six to a different part of the field. Although his batting was the main highlight of the tournament, he also displayed superb fielding and catching abilities taking a diving catch to his left which was considered the best catch of the tournament. Sushil was the unanimous and obvious choice by the fans and the tournament organizers for the most valuable player in the tournament thus giving him the man of the series award.