On a typical sunny and humid autumn day, two of Houston Cricket League’s arch rivals met for their second head to head competition in 2017 Division 1 game at HICC (Houston India Cricket Club) home ground Sardar Patel stadium.
Cricket fans always get the best whenever these two organizations meet and create emotional atmosphere of Pakistan/India game in the 4th largest city of United States.
HICC won the toss and elected to field first. Smart Choice was off to a good start with their top order batsmen scoring freely and establishing a solid platform for the lower middle order.
Jannisar Khan, Ex-PIA and Pakistan’s First Class Cricketer scored a chance less century and was well supported by Captain Usman Rafiq and Ahmed Butt who both got half centuries.
SCC was 255/3 with 6 overs remaining in the innings when Majid Rizvi walked into the field to bat. Being one of the best batsmen Houston has ever produced, Majid is approaching 6000 runs in HCL at an impressive average of 41.
This includes 15 centuries and 31 half centuries with an incredible 222 sixes and 465 boundaries. The stage was set for a classic quick innings from Majid however what happened next was not expected by any one.
Majid started his innings in his classic fashion by effortlessly hitting a boundary and rotating the strike to keep the score card moving. HICC turned to their left arm spinner to bowl the 36th over, the first ball was deposited out of the ground into deep mid-wicket forcing the bowler to shorten his length which did not help as Majid hit the second ball over square leg for another six.
Under pressure the bowler tried to go for a yorker which ended up being a waist high no-ball which Majid hit over wide over long on for a third six. The free hit delivery was bludgeoned straight back over the bowler’s head for a one bounce four.
With immense pressure on the young bowler HICC captain intervened mid over and gave the ball to one of his experienced off spinner to finish the over. The bowling change made no difference as Majid hit the next two deliveries over long on and deep mid-wicket to finish the over with 41 runs including 6 sixes and a four setting a record for most runs in an over ever in USA.
Majid scored his half century on 14 deliveries before getting caught at long on. This innings propelled Smart Choice’s final score to 360 in 40 overs helping the team secure a crucial victory.
Outside of the playing field Majid is a professional in the banking industry and is currently serving as the president of the Houston cricket league.