The Global T20 Canada tournament continued on Tuesday at the TD Arena in Brampton with another thrilling day of cricket. After a delayed start due to a soggy outfield, the first game of the day was cut down to 18 overs each side.
Iftikhar Ahmed, the Surrey Jaguars’ captain, and all-rounder Matthew Forde both had game-winning performances as the Surrey Jaguars easily defeated the Toronto Nationals by 20 runs. In the second game of the day, the unbeaten Montreal Tigers defeated the unbeaten Vancouver Knights by six wickets and eleven balls. Sherfane Rutherford performed the game’s best innings, scoring an unbeaten 84 in just 53 deliveries to lead his team to victory.
The Surrey Jaguars agreed to set a target for the Toronto Nationals after they won the toss. Due to shoddy fielding and subpar bowling, the Jaguars got off to an explosive start in the opening three overs thanks to opener Jatinder Singh (21). However, once Jatinder Singh was dismissed, the Nationals took back command of the innings.
The Jaguars were 41/1 when the five over Powerplay ended. During a cunning spell by Saad Bin Zafar, marquee players Alex Hales (16) and Litton Das (21) were scalped after failing to convert their starts. Skipper Iftikhar Ahmed made a cautious start into a bomber with just 9 runs scored in his first 16 deliveries before being removed for 47 in just 35 innings. The innings received a much-needed boost from Matthew Forde (19).
In response, the Nationals struggled to get going in their innings because of a devastating outing by Matthew Forde. At 30/3 at the conclusion of the Powerplay, their situation was dicey. Without the burden of losing Gerhard Erasmus (5), Nicolas Kirton (0), or Hamza Tariq (5), Colin Munro (43) batted fiercely to give the Nationals a chance until being out by Sandeep Lamichhane.
Despite initially supporting Munro, Arman Kapoor (16) was unable to capitalize on his efforts. JJ Smit (23) and a hurt Shahid Afridi (23) battled to match the steadily increasing asking rate in the final few overs. At 121/9, the Nationals fell short of their goal as the wickets kept falling.
