Colin Munro And Shakib Al Hassan Illuminate Day Two of Global T20 Canada

By Ravendra Madholall in Toronto
Toronto Nationals and Montreal Tigers recorded comfortable wins on day 2 in the third edition of the Global T20 extravaganza taking place at Brampton Sports Park, Ontario, Canada.

The six-franchised tournament got cracking Thursday with defending champions Brampton Wolves sealed a 44-run victory over Mississauga Panthers under the Duckworth/Lewis Method.

On Friday, when the action continued, Toronto Nationals carved out a nine-run triumph over Vancouver Knight Riders while later in the day, Tigers roared to a commanding four-wicket win with nine balls remaining against Surrey Jaguars.

Tigers won the toss and opted to bowl and their choice proved favorable as they picked up wickets at regular intervals leaving Jaguars with an inadequate 136-6 from the 20-overs.

Tigers then finished off things in exciting fashion reaching 141-5 with former West Indies captain and heavy-weight batsman Carlos Brathwaite clobbering two might sixes off seamer Matthew Forde. He remained 14 not out.

Their chase began positive with skipper Chris Lynn and Muhammad Waseem (12) posted up 27 before Lynn was run out for 22.

Bangladesh’s ace player Shakib Al Hasan arrived at number 3 and immediately made his intension clear with good aggression as he struck two mighty sixes and a boundary. He contributed a useful 26 while player-of-the-match Dilpreet Singh stroked a watchful, unbeaten 28 and was well-supported by Dipender Singh Airee who also made equal score.

Leggy Sandeep Lamichanne was the pick of the bowler with 2-17 from his maximum four overs on an animated pitch.

Earlier, Surrey Jaguars failed to find steady momentum. They lost wickets quite frequently upfront. Skipper Iftikhar Ahmed took up the responsibility by hitting an unbeaten 41, though.

His knock included two sixes and a four while Jatinder Singh scored 27 and 18 not out from Dillon Heyliger. An unbroken partnership at the end seemed challenging as the bowling took control.

The left-arm spinner Hasan grabbed 3-18 from his four overs to churn out an impressive all-round performance and astonishingly he was not given the player-of-the-match award. The dynamic all-rounder Hasan got admirable assistance from pacer Abbas Afridi who took 2-25 also from four overs.

In the first encounter, Toronto Nationals raced to a competitive 151-3 from the reduced 15-overs while Vancouver Knight Riders were left hanging at 142-4 when the 15-overs expired. The reduction of the overs was due to rain.

When things finally got going, world-class opening batsman Colin Munro batted with confidence and elegance to fire his way to a top-score of 78 not out. He slammed six sixes and six fours from 45 balls to also highlight the innings.

His skipper and the veteran Pakistanis Shahid Afridi belted a quick 23 while current Canadian batsman Nicolas Kirton chipped in with solid 22.

For the Kinght Riders, a good effort came from South African’s seasoned batsman Rassie van der Dussen with a well-compiled 51 which was decorated with five sixes and two fours. His 24-ball innings had the spectators on their feet. Fakhar Zaman added 36 and 31 from Vritya Aravind and 22 not out from Jamaican Fabien Allen.

Munro was the recipient of the player-of-the-match trophy for his enterprising display.
Meanwhile, two more matches are slated for Friday. At 11am, Vancouver Knight Riders will come against Mississauga Panthers and from 3:30 pm, Brampton Wolves are set to collide with Toronto Nationals.

The tournament will climax August 6th with a grand finale.

Brief scores:
Toronto Nationals – 151/3 in 15 overs (Colin Munro – 78 off 45 balls, Shahid Afridi – 23 runs off 12 balls, Nicholas Kirton – 22 runs off 21 balls, Corbin Bosch – 1/25, Reeza Hendricks – 1/13, Nawab Singh – 1/36)
Vancouver Knights- 142/4 in 15 overs (Rassie Van Der Dussen – 51 runs off 24 balls, Fakhar Zaman – 36 runs off 24 balls, Vritya Arvind – 31 runs off 19 balls, Gerhard Erasmus – 2/26, Fazalhaq Farooqui 1/16, Zaman Khan 1/27)
Toronto Nationals won by 9 runs

Surrey Jaguars – 138/6 in 20 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed – 40 runs in 44 balls, Jatinder Singh – 27 runs in 15 balls, Dillon Heyliger – 18 runs in 16 balls, Shakib Al Hassan – 3/18, Abbas Afridi – 2/25, Kaleem Sana – 1/33)
Montreal Tigers – 141/5 in 18.4 overs (Dilpreet Singh – 28 runs in 31 balls Dipendra Singh – 28 runs off 20 balls, Shakib Al Hassan – 26 runs in 13 balls, Chris Lynn – 22 runs in 15 balls, Sandeep Lamicchane – 2/17, Iftikhar Ahmed – 1/21, Bernard Scholtz – 1/30, Pargat Singh – 1/7)
Tigers won by 5 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)