Monank Patel continues his love-affair with Dallas

USA captain Monank Patel was distraught. After an agonising 6-hour wait at the Nassau Medical Center hospital, he was advised to rest out for the USA vs India game owing to a shoulder injury. In their drive back to the team hotel in Queens, while the team doctor tried his level best to placate the situation, Monank was inconsolable.

The news was a blow after the astronomical highs of an MVP performance against Pakistan that made him an overnight sensation in India. After realising his boyhood dream of beating Pakistan in a World Cup game, in an act of bait and switch, destiny had robbed him off his foremost aspiration as a professional cricketer, to compete against India.

"It took me a good two days to accept that I wasn't playing against India. I had been visualising the prospects of facing Bumrah and company the moment the groups were announced. The constant text messages and calls from friends and family were not helping either. I had to seclude myself in a room and chew it away. The enormity of the moment hit me when the teams aligned for the national anthems. Going out for the toss would have been a big moment for me as USA captain. But it is all in the past," Monank told Cricbuzz.

Things however went downhill thereafter for Monank. The Pakistan game turned out to be his last for the World Cup. A couple of single digit scores in Morrisville in this year's Major League Cricket (MLC) further added to his mental woes after recuperating from the injury. He was itching to come back to Dallas. His own amphitheatre of dreams. To start yet again from where he had left off. To the spot where he had been embraced by his father for the only time in his adulthood - after the Pakistan game.

"I knew something would happen here. I was short of runs. This is my ground. I have done well here. Wanted to continue my form. Coach Robbie called me in his room and told me I was batting at number 4 in this game. I told him my tournament will start from today. I was looking forward to not carrying any baggage to Dallas. We weren't going back to Morrisville so it was going to be a fresh start. All the rest of the games are supposed to be here," Monank added, after a