USA captain Monank Patel made the most of a pair of dropped chances to register his maiden T20I century in a 149-run win over Bahamas at Jimmy Powell Oval on day two of the 2025 North American T20 Cup in Grand Cayman. Monank survived twice on skied catching opportunities at backward point while he was on 58 and 74 before ending with 104 off 49 balls in USA’s total of 217 for 4 before they restricted Bahamas to 68 for 9 in reply.
For the second match in a row, USA won the toss and chose to bat first as the American side made four changes to the starting lineup from their opening day win over Cayman Islands, including a historic one. When fast bowler Aarin Nadkarni received his T20I debut cap, he became USA’s latest multi-generational representative. Nadkarni’s father, former USA captain Sushil, played for India U19 and also had a brief first-class career for Maharashtra in India’s Ranji Trophy before migrating to Texas where he represented USA in an illustrious career from 2006 to 2014 having made his debut against Cayman Islands in Canada just 10 days after Aarin was born.
Prior to the Nadkarnis, the last father-son representatives for USA were Anil and Neil Lashkari. Anil represented Gujarat in India’s first-class Ranji Trophy competition from 1951 through 1956 before first heading to Leeds, England to obtain a graduate degree after which he migrated to the Los Angeles, California area and went on to play for USA from 1965 to 1979. Anil eventually captained USA in their maiden appearance – and his final tournament – at the ICC Trophy in 1979, the precursor to the ICC World Cup Qualifier. His son Neil, who was born in Leeds (while Anil was completing a degree there) but grew up in Southern California, was a mainstay at the top of the order for USA from 1978 through 1990 and represented USA at four ICC Trophy tournaments from 1979 through 1990.
The other players to come into the lineup for USA were the California trio of Ayan Desai, Vatsal Vaghela and Rahul Jariwala. For the 20-year-old Jariwala, it was his T20I debut having made his ODI debut in June 2022 just one day after his 18th birthday during the home ODI tri-series in Pearland, Texas against UAE. Fast bowlers Saurabh Netravalkar and vice-captain Jessy Singh were rested along with the Texas duo of Ali Sheikh and Shayan Jahangir.
Sai Mukkamalla teamed with Jariwala for a 32-run partnership before Mukkamalla fell for 16 in the fourth over thanks to an athletic return catch from Romaine Smith, who latched onto an ankle height return drive in his follow-through for the day’s first wicket. Jariwala was joined by Monank and the pair put on 62 for the second wicket before Jariwala fell at the midway point of the innings for 35, driving the last ball before drinks to long-on where Ryan Tappin held onto a head high catch for a wicket to Sandeep Goud making it 94 for 2 in 10 overs.
Monank moved to his first 50 off 24 balls when he flicked a thigh high full toss from Goud over the wicketkeeper for a boundary. However, he should have been gone eight runs later in the 14th over off the bowling of left-arm spinner Kervon Hinds after the bowler induced a sliced skier to cover where Goud shelled a straightforward chance reaching above his head. In the 16th, Hinds once again generated a chance after Monank charged him on 74 and sliced another shot to backward point that was grassed on a sliding effort. Hinds was finally rewarded a few balls later in the same over when Aaron Jones drove him to the cover boundary where a catch was taken by Festus Benn to end a 75-run third-wicket partnership and send Jones back to the dugout for 35 at 169 for 3.
Monank motored ahead in the subsequent overs, driving Goud over the sightscreen in the 18th to move to 99 with his sixth six. A thigh high full toss next ball was tapped gently to long-on to bring up a century off 44 balls. Though it was Monank’s first official T20I century, he previously scored a century for USA in T20 cricket against Belize in September 2018 at the ICC Americas Subregional T20 World Cup Qualifier in Morrisville, North Carolina, just four months before T20I status was universally applied to all international teams. On that occasion, he scored 108 off 58 balls and shared in a 197-run opening partnership with Jaskaran Malhotra as USA posted a total of 249 for 2 in a 198-run win.
Monank tapped singles for the remainder of his scoring in Grand Cayman before he eventually fell in the final over for 104, skying Smith to deep midwicket where Ricardo Patten took a catch to deny an unbeaten knock for the USA captain. Singles from Milind Kumar and Sanjay Krishnamurthi accounted for the rest of the runs in the final over as USA ended on 217 for 4, their second highest T20I total. Milind finished on 18 not out off 11 balls while Krishnamurthi ended on 2 not out off 2 balls.
Smith finished with 2 for 36 in four overs while Hinds was more expensive despite generating more catching opportunities that went unrewarded and finished with 1 for 39. Goud was Bahamas’ most expensive bowler on the day returning 1 for 54 off his four. Festus Benn and former captain Marc Taylor also went at more than 10 an over in their spells, ending with figures of 0 for 42 and 0 for 46 respectively.
Bahamas never came close in the chase as a 20-run first-wicket stand across 4.5 overs was their largest of the innings before it was ended by a Vatsal Vaghela relay to Jariwala over the stumps for a runout to remove Benn for 6 in the fifth over. Vaghela then came into the attack in the seventh and claimed his first T20I wicket in nearly three years, when a top-edged sweep from Tappin came down into the hands of Akhilesh Bodugum at short midwicket for 2 to make it 30 for 2.
Taylor struck two fours and a six in his 19 before he dragged a short ball from left-arm pacer Desai onto his stumps at the start of the eighth over to make it 30 for 3. The second runout of the day was produced by Krishnamurthi on the last ball of the ninth over as he swooped in from cover to deny an attempted tap and run single by collecting and shoveling an underhand to Jariwala over the stumps to beat Eugene Duff’s failed attempt at a single starting from the non-striker’s end as the Bahamian was dismissed for 1 to make it 38 for 4.
Hinds was the first to go after drinks in the 12th, charging Yasir Mohammad and picking out Milind at long-off for 15 to make it 53 for 5. Mohammad took his second in the 16th, getting Julio Jemison to top-edge a sweep which was held by Jones running back from slip for 7 to make it 64 for 6.
Vaghela then returned to the attack to claim two more wickets. First was Antonio Harris in the 17th for a second-ball duck, slicing a drive to Desai at backward point to make it 65 for 7. Three balls later, Renford Davson then fell for 5 when he sliced an edge off a full ball that was held onto by Jones after a leaping effort above his head at slip to make it 66 for 8.
After going wicketless on his T20I debut on Saturday, Bodugum then finally took his maiden scalp for USA in the 19th when Goud drove a full ball to Krishnamurthi at mid-off for 1 to make it 67 for 9. Bahamas tailenders Patten and Smith stubbornly survived the final 10 balls of play to ensure USA did not take all 10 wickets but managed to add just one run in that stretch to take Bahamas to their final total of 68 for 9.
Vaghela ended with 3 for 12 in his four overs. Mohammad claimed 2 for 14 off his four. Desai finished with 1 for 3 off two overs after coming on at first change in place of Bodugum, who ended with 1 for 14 after he once against opened with new-ball offspin. Nadkarni was wicketless on his T20I debut, conceding 13 off two overs. Krishnamurthi (0 for 8 off three) and Milind (a maiden in his only over) were economical for USA.
USA’s next match in the tournament is against Bermuda on Monday in Grand Cayman. Bermuda bounced back from an opening day loss to Canada and went on to defeat Cayman Islands by 30 runs after posting a first innings total of 137 for 5.