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TMU added another trophy to the cabinet when their men’s cricket team won the TD National Cricket Championship with a win over Algonquin College in the finals.
“It was a very good feeling [winning the tournament],” said TMU cricket team captain Ahsan Sajjad. “Considering two years ago we lost to Algonquin in the final, it was like a sweet revenge.”
The tournament took place over three days at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground. It began on Sept. 25 and culminated in the final that took place on Sept. 27. Ten teams from colleges and universities in Ontario took part.
TMU won by a substantial margin of 107 runs after scoring 192 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. They then proceeded to completely dismiss Algonquin College for 85 runs in only 11.2 overs.
Aarth Kuyeskar was the top scorer for TMU, hitting 61 off 38 balls. Bowlers Hrishik Mehta and Daud Abbas led with the ball, taking three wickets each to restrict Algonquin College.
“To achieve this in my final year at university made it even more special,” said Abbas, a fast bowler, on winning the tournament. “It’s a lifelong memory, one I’ll always carry with me.”
“Everyone brought their best effort and through relentless determination and cohesion, we remained unbeaten and ultimately secured the championship.”
Expectations were high going into the tournament, especially since many of the players are currently in their final year of undergraduate studies and wanted to depart with a major victory.
Examination of past tournament scorecards show that this was the TMU men’s second National Cricket Championship win. They had previously won the tournament in 2018.
“Our expectations for these big tournaments are always to win,” said Chirag Dhariwal, a spinner.
“I knew we have a good, balanced squad that’s been training hard,” Dhariwal said. “The core group has been around TMU’s cricket program for a couple years now so we walked into the tournament with confidence and executed our plans well for the tournament.”
TMU played two group stage matches, defeating Algonquin College and the University of Toronto Scarborough. They then defeated Wilfrid Laurier University in the quarter finals and Brock University in the semi finals before progressing to the final.
OTR reporter, fall 2024
