Smith MBAs Win Cricket Tournament at Darden

MBA students at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business won the Second Annual Darden MBA Cricket Tournament, hosted by the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia on April 23, 2011. Having won the first edition of the tournament last year, the expectations were much higher from the Smith cricket team. Unfortunately, no other school could participate because of their busy commitments and the tournament was reduced to best of the three matches’ series between Smith and Darden teams.

Smith won the toss in the first match and batted first. Opening batsman Ashustosh (first-year full-time MBA) scored an entertaining half century to set a score of 102 in 12 overs. Smith bowled with a lot of skill, Jayant (first-year full-time MBA) and Shashank (first-year full-time MBA) being the stars, to restrict Darden and won a close contest by 7 runs. Darden batted first after winning the toss in the second match and posted a challenging score of 122 in 12 overs. Nabeel (second-year full-time MBA) batted well to keep Smith in the game but was run out at a crucial time. In the end, Smith fell short by 30 runs to leave the series tied at 1-1.

With both teams fighting for the trophy, the last match had little room for complacency. Smith batted first in the final game and courtesy to a brilliant innings by Shashank, scoring 72, set Darden a target of 131 to get in 12 overs. Superb bowling by Gunangad, Jayraj’s acrobatic wicket-keeping, and excellent fielding in the outfield helped Smith comprehensively beat the Darden team by 60 runs. The Smith team led by Nabeel, who enjoyed wonderful support from the entire team, lifted the trophy for the second consecutive year.

Darden School of Business, yet again, proved to be a wonderful host. Both teams demonstrated sportsmanship spirit on the field while playing the matches with high intensity. Smith cricket team returned back with the aim of completing the hat-trick of cricket trophies next year!

Nabeel Jawad, MBA Candidate 2011, Smith Media Group