Brampton, August 2, 2023: The Surrey Jaguars defeated the Mississauga Panthers on the last day of the league stage of Global T20 Canada, securing the top spot on the points table. With impressive performances from Sandeep Lamichhane, Matthew Forde, and Iftikhar Ahmed, the Jaguars easily pursued their objective after thrashing the Panthers for a pitiful 56.
The Vancouver Knights jumped up to the second spot on the point table after defeating the Toronto Nationals by a score of 25 runs in the second game of the day. The deft bowling of Corbin Bosch and Harsh Thakker propelled them to victory. The Surrey Jaguars, Vancouver Knights, Montreal Tigers, and Brampton Wolves have secured the top four spots to make the playoffs based on their day’s results.
The Surrey Jaguars won the toss and elected to put the Mississauga Panthers to bat first.
Following the early removals of Cameron Delport (4), Shreyas Movva (17), and Mihir Patel (0) by Matthew Forde, the Panthers got off to a disappointing start. At 30/3 at the end of the powerplay, the innings was in danger. But between the sixth and ninth overs, when the Panthers lost four wickets and only managed four runs, the innings collapsed even more.
Ayaan Khan, a left arm spinner, deceived Shoaib Malik (5), while leggie Sandeep Lamichhane quickly removed the dangerous Azam Khan (2) and Tom Cooper (0). Iftikhar Ahmed sent 10-year-old Nikhil Dutta back to the pavilion despite his important contribution. Sandeep Lamichhane and Iftikhar Ahmed cleaned up the tail as the Panthers ultimately hustled out for a meagre score of 56, despite James Neesham (9*) hanging around until the very finish.
With an undefeated innings, Mohammad Haris (37*) led the Jaguars in a convincing run chase. Haris tore through barriers with abandon, quickly eroding the meagre aim. Iftikhar Ahmed (8) and Mohammad Haris (8) ensured that the Jaguars easily completed their goal, winning with eight wickets and eleven overs remaining after Jatinder Singh (2) and Litton Das (10) went out in the powerplay.
The first team to field was the Toronto Nationals. When Faheem Ashraf removed Fakhar Zaman, the Knights lost a wicket right away. After putting on another strong partnership of 62 runs with Corbin Bosch (30) and Mohammed Rizwan (27), the Knights were 49/1 at the end of the powerplay. After Shahid Afridi took the vital wickets of Rassie Van Der Dussen (2) and Rizwan, the innings faltered. Though intimidating, 15-year-old Najibullah Zadran left the game in the fourteenth over. The Knights finished at 128/7 thanks to a cameo from Harsh Thaker, who was undefeated, and a contribution from Riyaan Pathan (10) in the last overs.
The Toronto Nationals responded forcefully, knowing they had to chase their target in 18.3 overs to guarantee a postseason spot. In the first over, Nicholas Kirton (19) found three boundaries. However, as the top order fell apart during the powerplay, chasing a high run rate proved expensive. In the fourth over, spinner Harsh Thaker removed Kirton and Hamza Tariq (14), while in the fifth over, Junaid Siddique removed Sikandar Raza (0) and Gerhard Erasmus (3).
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Shortly after, Shahid Afridi (1) was also benched for misfiring on a Corbin Bosch hit. The Nationals were 45/5 at the end of the powerplay and in serious trouble. Coming in at number three, Darren Bravo (28), under pressure as wickets kept falling around him, attempted to steer the innings, even hitting Harsh Thaker for two straight sixes before being out of the game in the same over. With a few boundaries, Zaman Khan (14) looked to stage a heist, but the Nationals were bowled out for 103 in 15.5 overs, giving the Vancouver Knights a 25-run triumph.
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