By Ijaz Ahmad Khan
TORONTO, King City, Sept. 29 (APP)::The Pakistan-born Saad Bin Zafar spun Canada to a 14 runs victory in the first match of the Tri-Nation Twenty20 Cricket Series which kicked off at Maple Leaf North-West Ground, King City here.
Saad Bin Zafar earned the honor of being Canada’s first captain at the T20 World Cup in 2024. That was a culmination of a long career with Canada that started with a first-class debut in 2008 before representing the team consistently in all formats.
As a slow left-arm spinner and left-hand batter, Saad has also been part of the Caribbean Premier League, representing St Lucia Zouks. In November 2021, he entered the record books as the first man to concede no run in a four-over spell in a T20I when he finished with figures of 4-4-0-2 against Panama.
The Nepal skipper won the toss and invited Canada to bat first. Canada while batting first set 123 runs, a meager total, for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
The Canadian batsmen could not added much to the total with only middle order Shreyas Movva made 22 runs off 23 balls with one boundary and one six, Saad bin Zafar made 23 runs off 18 balls with three boundaries, opener Naveet Dhaliwal (13) off 10 balls with one six, Dilpreet Bajwa (14) off 10 balls with two boundaries, Akhil Kumar not out 14 off 13 balls with one boundary and a six and Perveen Kumar made 19 run off 13 balls with two towering sixes.
The Canadian reached 50 runs in 9.4 overs off 58 balls, followed by Canada’s 100 runs in 17.3 overs off 105 balls only made 123 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.
For Nepal Sandeep Lamichhane was the most successful bowler who grabbed three wickets for 29 runs in his four overs spell, Sompal Kami claimed three wickets for 30 runs in his four overs spell while Rijan Dhakal and Dipendra Sindh Airee got one wicket each for 31 runs and 11 runs respectively.
The target was not a big task but Nepal players tumbled down and only made 109 all out in 19 overs.
Only middle order batsmen Rohit Paudel smashed 37 runs off 39 balls with two boundaries and as many sixes and Sandeep Lamichhane made (10), Dev Khanal (11) and Kushal Bhurtel (12) were the leading contributors, none of the other batsmen could cross the double figures and thus Nepal bundled out for 109 runs in 19 overs with the average of 5.73 overs.
At once Nepal tumbled down for 36 runs for three, reaching the 50 runs off 49 balls in 8.1 overs and raced up to 100 runs in 17.3 overs but failed to chase the target and thus Canada won the match by 15 runs with excellent bowling by Saad Bin Zafar, taking three wickets for only 13 runs in his four overs spell while Kaleem Sana took four wickets for 26 runs in his four overs spell, Parveen Kumar and Akhil Kumar took one wicket each for 16 and 25 runs respectively.
Host Canada, Oman and Nepal are part of the Twenty20 Tri-Series. Cricket was brought to the football-mad Sultanate of Oman, ranked 19, in the 1970s by expatriates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and it received royal patronage from the early days.
Cricket was first introduced to Nepal, ranked 17, in the early 20th century by the ruling Rana clan. In 1946, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN); it became an Associate member of the ICC in 1996.
History suggests cricket was played in Canada as far back as the 18th century. An English schoolmaster named George Barber is credited with spreading the game thereby helping found the Toronto Cricket Club in 1827.
Ranked 15 in ODIs and 23rd in T20Is Canada qualified for the next two ODI World Cups too, but their only victory in nine games came against Kenya in 2011. That tournament remains the last time Canada appeared in a World Cup. Their first appearance in the T20 World Cup came in the West Indies and USA in 2024.
For Canada Ansh Patel was debutant while Dev Khanal, Rijan Dhakal made their debut for Nepal
Umpires: Arnold Maddela, Rohan Shah, Reserve Umpire Bijal Patel (Canada). Match Referee: Neeyamur Rashid (Bangladesh).
Squad Nepal: Rohit Paudel, Aasif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kamal Airee, Kushal Bhurtel, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Gulsan Jha, Sundeep Jora, Karan KC, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Lamichhane, Pratis GC, Lalit Rajbanshi and Anil Sah.
Canada Squad: Saad Bin Zafar, Dilpreet Bajwa, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nikhil Dutta, Jeremy Gordon, Dilon Heyliger, Rishiv Joshi, Junaid Siddiqui, Kaleem Sana, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva, Pargat Singh, Rayyan Pathan, Ravinderpal Singh.
SCORECARD
Canada Batting
Aaron Johnson c Paudel b Dhakal 9
Navneet Dhaliwal c Dhakal b Sompal Kami 13
Dilpreet Bajwa c Paudel b Sompal Kami 14
Nicholas Kirton (c) c Sah b Airee 5
Shreyas Movva † b Lamichhane 22
Harsh Thaker b Lamichhane 1
Saad Bin Zafar c Kushal Malla b Lamichhane 23
Akhil Kumar not out 14
Parveen Kumar b Sompal Kami 19
Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3
Total: 20 Ov (RR: 6.15) 123/8
Did not bat:
Kaleem Sana, Ansh Patel
Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Aaron Johnson, 3.1 ov), 2-36 (Navneet Dhaliwal, 5.3 ov), 3-37 (Dilpreet Bajwa, 5.6 ov), 4-55 (Nicholas Kirton, 10.5 ov), 5-56 (Harsh Thaker, 11.1 ov), 6-83 (Shreyas Movva, 14.5 ov), 7-92 (Saad Bin Zafar, 16.4 ov), 8-123 (Parveen Kumar, 19.6 ov)
Bowling:
Karan KC 4-0-20-0
Rijan Dhakal 4-0-31-1
Sompal Kami 4-0-30-3
Dipendra Singh Airee 4-0-11-1
Sandeep Lamichhane 4-0-29-3
NEPAL Batting
Anil Sah c Kaleem Sana b Parveen Kumar 09
Aasif Sheikh † c Bajwa b Kaleem Sana 08
Dev Khanal c Kaleem Sana b Akhil Kumar 11
Rohit Paudel (c) b Kaleem Sana 37
Kushal Malla c sub (Ravinderpal Singh) b Saad Bin Zafar 12
Kushal Bhurtel b Saad Bin Zafar 07
Dipendra Singh Airee c Dhaliwal b Saad Bin Zafar 06
Sompal Kami b Kaleem Sana 01
Sandeep Lamichhane c & b Kaleem Sana 10
Karan KC run out (Bajwa/†Movva) 05
Rijan Dhakal not out 01
Extras (w 2) 02
Total: 19 Overs (RR: 5.73) 109
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Anil Sah, 1.5 ov), 2-17 (Aasif Sheikh, 2.3 ov), 3-36 (Dev Khanal, 5.4 ov), 4-58 (Kushal Malla, 9.1 ov), 5-68 (Kushal Bhurtel, 11.2 ov), 6-88 (Dipendra Singh Airee, 15.1 ov), 7-92 (Sompal Kami, 16.2 ov), 8-95 (Rohit Paudel, 16.6 ov), 9-108 (Karan KC, 18.2 ov), 10-109 (Sandeep Lamichhane, 18.6 ov)
Bowling:
Kaleem Sana 4-0-26-4
Parveen Kumar 3-0-16-1
Harsh Thaker 4-0-18-0
Akhil Kumar 3-0-25-1
Ansh Patel 1-0-11-0
Saad Bin Zafar 4-0-13-3
Toss: Nepal (elected to field first)
Canada won the match by 14 runs.
