New Zealand confirmed their spot in the Super Eight stage of the ongoing edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup with a thumping win over Canada in their final group game played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The Start
Bowling first after losing the toss, the inexperienced bowling attack that New Zealand had due to the absence of regular captain Mitchell Santner had to toil hard against the Canadian opening pair of Dilpreet Bajwa and Yuvraj Samra, with Samra being the more aggressive of the two.
The Inning
The left-hander took the attacking route right from the start and kept the opposition bowlers under pressure, who had no answers to some proactive batting from Yuvraj, completing a well-deserved half-century in the process.
The Partnership
While Yuvraj was taking on the bowlers from one end, Canada’s captain Dilpreet Bajwa kept the scoreboard moving by playing a run-a-ball innings before cutting loose after the first ten overs and perished soon after.
The Finish
Despite losing his captain, Yuvraj continued batting in an aggressive manner and completed a century, scoring 110 runs of 65 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes, thereby taking his team to a challenging total of 173 runs for the loss of four wickets.
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The Support
If we talk about the performance of other Canadian batters other than Dilpreet Bajwa, no other batter was able to stay long enough to give company to Samra, which resulted in Canada failing to cross the 200-run mark despite conditions being favourable for batting.
The Bowling
As far as New Zealand’s effort with the ball is concerned, the bowlers pulled things back in the second half of the innings after being a bit on the expensive side in the first ten overs as the likes of Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and James Neesham adapted quickly according to the nature of the surface and made good use of cutters and slower balls.
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The Chase
Chasing 174 runs to win, New Zealand got off to a flier as the opening pair of Tim Seifert and Finn Allen scored 30 runs in 2.4 overs before Allen was dismissed and was followed by Seifert as Canada fought back into the game.
The Final Act
However, the happiness on the faces of the Canadian players subsided when Glenn Phillips joined Rachin Ravindra. The duo counterattacked and transferred the pressure back on the opposition, who were sloppy in the field and with the ball for the majority of the chase, which gave both batters the opportunity to score freely and complete respective half-centuries while winning the game for New Zealand.
The Implication
New Zealand have booked their place in the next round courtesy of this win, meaning that the semi-finalists of the 2024 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan, have been eliminated.
Also Read: List of Batters with Century for Canada in T20I Cricket
