By VINODE MAMCHAN
American cricket took center stage on Thursday as national player Jaskaran Malhotra became the fourth batsman to strike six sixes in an over in International cricket.
The Indian-born batsman altered the record books with his batting heroics during the 2nd ODI between USA and Papua New Guinea in Oman, the wicketkeeper-batsman slammed six sixes in an over to become only the second cricketer to do so in One-Day Internationals after former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs.
Malhotra’s entry into US cricket came through the Cricket Council USA (CCUSA) route and he was brought into the country to play at the popular US Open T20 tournament that is staged annually at the Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale. Qureshi wanted to improve the quality of cricket at the tournament and Malhotra was one of the players he assisted in getting his US visa to come into the country to play cricket.
Since then Malhotra has been a firm member of the CCUSA family and represents the US All Stars at the US Open T20 cricket tournament. Qureshi speaking on the record said: “We are very happy for Jaskaran he deserves the success. Many years ago he wanted to come to America and play and we at CCUSA assisted him in coming over to play. It is now a great day for America that he is serving the country well.”
Another player who made it big during the week Muhammad Ali Khan is yet another player who was given the opportunity by Qureshi. Ali Khan in his only game this season grabbed four wickets for six runs to record one of the best bowling performances in the history of the league. Ali Khan got a taste of big time cricket when he was invited to play by Qureshi at the US Open T20. A couple of years ago Qureshi invited Dwayne Bravo to play at the US Open T20 and put Ali Khan on the same team with him. Bravo saw the talent in Ali and invited him to come to the CPL and the rest is history.
Qureshi remains a mentor to Ali Khan: “Ali is one of our products at CCUSA. He came to play as a young boy and has developed nicely. We are very proud of him and he is always in contact with us. He did really well during the week and I am not surprised.”
