Nepali Rhinos cricket club had to overcome a serious challenge from Houston Stallions and in particular, Rahkeem Cornwall, to win the 2021 Houston Open T20 tournament at Prairie View Cricket Complex in Texas. The international pros in the Rhinos squad from Nepal, United Arab Emirates and Canada were the mainstays throughout the campaign and came good in the knock-out stages of the tournament on 16th and 17th April 2021.
USA player Jaskaran Malhotra finished among the top 5 batsmen for the tournament with 236 runs from 5 innings. Rohan Mustafa (12 wickets from 7 innings) from UAE and Basant Regmi (9 wickets from 7 innings) from Nepal finished among the top 5 bowlers in the tournament. Both batting and bowling charts was dominated by Rahkeem Cornwall from West Indies.
The tournament has provided a good measure of what can be expected during the Minor League Cricket tournament staged by USA cricket, set for 2021 and the Major League Cricket tournament, which will take place in 2022. Most of the local and domestic players who took part in the Houston Open T20 will be playing for their respective regional team’s in the Minor League Cricket tournament.
Brief Scores
Quarterfinal (Scorecard): Chicago All Stars 101/9 in 20 overs (Adnan Haroon 46, Rohan Mustafa 4/6, Karthik Gattepalli 2/17, Basant Regmi 1/17) lost to Nepali Rhinos 102/3 in 14 overs (Rohan Mustafa 43, Prithu Baskota 18, Susant Modani 14 n.o, Koti Vanga 1/14) by 7 wickets
Semifinal (Scorecard): Houston Stars 140 all out in 20 overs (Jermaine Blackwood 51, Saqlain Haider 26, Nosthush Kenjige 20, Saqib Salim 4/17, Elmore Hutchinson 2/31, Basant Regmi 1/21, Karthik Gattepalli 1/33) lost to Nepali Rhinos 141/2 in 14.2 overs (Rayyan Khan Pathan 74, Rohan Mustafa 48 n.o, Nosthush Kenjige 1/26) by 8 wickets
Final (Scorecard): Nepali Rhinos 174/8 in 20 overs (Rayaan Khan Pathan 51, Sushant Modani 49, Peston Matthews 24, Rahkeem Cornwall 5/20, Omer Khan 2/23, Najaf Shah 1/32) beat Houston Stallions 172/8 in 20 overs (Rahkeem Cornwall 48, Shayan Jahangir 39, Hammad Azam 29, Sami Aslam 17, Karthik Gattepalli 4/29, Rayyan Khan Pathan 1/25, Rohan Mustafa 1/29) by 2 runs
2021 Houston Open T20 (Other Match Scorecards)
Atlanta Fire vs RDU Army (Scorecard) ; SAMP Army vs Atlanta Fire (Scorecard) ; NJ Blackcaps vs PV Hurricanes (Scorecard) ; RDU Army vs Houston Stallions (Scorecard) ; Orlando Galaxy vs St Louis Americans (Scorecard) ; Houston Stallions vs LA Master Blasters (Scorecard) ; Houston Stars vs PV Hurricanes (Scorecard) ; RDU Army vs CricMax (Scorecard) ; St Louis Americans vs PV Hurricanes (Scorecard)
Quarterfinal#1: Houston Stallions vs PV Hurricanes (Scorecard)
Quarterfinal#2: Houston Stars vs SAMP Army (Scorecard)
Quarterfinal#3: Chicago All Stars vs Nepali Rhinos CC (Scorecard)
Quarterfinal#4: NJ Blackcaps vs LA Master Blasters (Scorecard)
