Hiral Patel (70) Aaditya Vardarajan (60), Udaybir Singh Walia (56), Shreyas Movva (53) all struck half-centuries while Rommel Shahzad 4/12 (4) was the pick of the bowlers on Day 1 of the three day, August 13-15, 2021 Canadian National Men’s T20 Cricket Championships, got underway at King City’s Maple Leaf Cricket Club. Day I’s four scheduled matches featured the Sheilds vs Stallions; Fire vs Fury; Fire vs Stallions and Fury vs Shields.
The Shields vs Stallions match was a bit of a one-sided affair. Batting first Shields posted 122/9 off 20 overs, with Sukhpreet Khohar (32) and Canadian National team captain Navneet Dhaliwal (31)as the top scorers. Bowling for the Stallions, Rommel Shazad had the entire day’s most outstanding figures of 4/12-4.
Chasing 123 for victory, the Stallions reached their target for the loss of only two wickets. Udaybir Singh Walia (56) and Shreya Movva (53) both posting half-centuries in an unbeaten 116 run third wicket partnership that took the Stallions to their very comfortable victory.
Summarized Scores: Shields 122/9 (20 Ovrs) , Khohar 32, Dhaliwal 31, Shazad 4/12-4; Stallions 126/2 (18.3 Ovrs) Walia 56. Movva 53, Stallions won by 8 wickets.
While the Shields and Stallions were locking horns in their opening round fixture the Fury and Fire were also similarly engaged. Batting first Fury only managed to reach 105/9 (20) with Hamza Tariq, 30 as the only score of note. Meet Patel 3/10-3 was the Fire’s main wicket-taker, while Dosanjh claimed 2/13-3.
Chasing 105 for victory, Fire cruised to their target on the back of an unbeaten 50 ball 60 not out from their opening batsman Aaditya Vardarajan. Nicholas Manohar was also unbeaten on 19 as Fire ended on 107/2 (18.4) to claim victory by 8 wickets.
Summarized Scores; Fury 105/9 (20 Ovrs) Tariq 30, Meet Patel 3/10-3, Dosanjh 2/13-3; Fire 107/2 (18.4 Ovrs) Vardarajan 60, Fire won by 8 wickets.
Match 3 of the three National Championships’ Day 1 featured the Stallions against Fire in yet another
lopsided encounter, Batting first the Stallions posted a formidable 164/4 of its 20 overs. Hiral Patel’s 56 ball 70 at the top of the order was the backbone of the innings. He also received some solid support from Armaan Kapoor’s aggressive 33 ball 46.
Set 165 to win in 20 overs at a very challenging required run rate of 8.25 runs per over, Fire’s batsmen were never in the hunt. Wickets fell regularly and Kavian Naress patient 25 ball 31 was eventually the only score of note. Fire ended on 101/7 off its 20 overs. Hiral Patel had the excellent figures of 3/9-3, while Rommel Shahzad 2/14-4 was almost as effective.
Summarized Scores: Stallions 164/4 (20 Ovrs) Patel 70, Kapoor 36; Fire 101/7 (20 Ovrs) Naress 25, Hiral Patel 3/9-3, Shahzad 2/14-4. Stallions won by 63 runs.
The final Day 1 match featured Fury against Shields in a highly competitive, low scoring encounter, Fury batting first were bundled out for 97 in 18.3 overs, Rodrigo Thomas’34 ball 30 the only score worth noting. Kanwar Mann took 3/12-4 and there were also two-wicket hauls for Jatinder Matharu 2/12-3, Dilon Heyliger 2/17-3.3 and Farhan Malik 2/19-3.
Chasing a paltry 94 for victory Shields struggled initially losing wickets at 2, 3, 15, 36 and 38. From 38-5 they recovered, however, to 67 without further loss thanks to a 29 run sixth-wicket partnership between Bhupinder Singh (37) and Jatinder Matharu (13). The subsequent losses of Singh, Kanwar Mann (0) first ball and eventually Matharu at 67 and 79 respectively must have certainly caused some panic within the Shields dugout. Dilon Heyliger (22*) and Trevor Manoosingh (5*)however saw them safely to victory without any further loss.
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
Fury 93/10 (20 Ovrs) Thomas 30, Mann 3/12-4. Shields 97/8 (19.3 Ovrs) Singh 37, Shahbaz Kayani 3/18-4. Shields won by 2 wickets.