Canada has qualified for the T20 World Cup for the first time in the victory over Bermuda on Saturday.
Canada qualifies for T20 World Cup
Canada is scheduled to play in the finals of the World Cup T20 qualifiers on October 07 at National Stadium, Hamilton. With this victory, Canada has booked a place in the T20 World Cup for the first time after beating Bermuda by 39 runs in the finals game of the Americas region qualifiers to secure a spot in the 2024 edition.
Winning the toss Bermuda chose to bowl first where Aaron Johnson and Navneet Dhaliwal opened the innings while Cejay Outerbridge opened the bowling attack. the opener Aaron Johnson was sent out with 15 runs by Cejay Outerbridge. Navneet Dhaliwal scored 45 runs on 38 deliveries while Pargat Singh scored 9 runs and was sent out by Dominic Sabir.
Harsh Thaker scored 21 runs on 22 deliveries and was sent out by Derrick Brangman while Nicholas Kirton scored 26 runs on 10 deliveries. Dominic Sabir dismissed 2 wickets while Cejay Outerbridge and Derrick Brangman scalped one wicket each. By the end, Canada scored 132 runs losing four wickets on 20 overs.
With a target of 133, Kamau Leverock and Tre Manders opened the innings while Kalseem Sana opened the bowling attack. With Tre Manders sent out with 1 run by Harsh Thaker, Kamau Leverock scored 23 runs on 23 deliveries and was sent out by Nikhil Dutta.
Terryn Fray scored 30 runs on 35 deliveries and was sent out by Zafar. Delray was dismissed by Nikhil on the single figure of 1 run while Allan Douglas scored 22 runs on 13 deliveries and was sent out by Gordon. Other batters struggled against Canada bowlers and were sent out at regular intervals.
Kaleem Sana and Jeremy Gordon dismissed three wickets each while Nikhil Dutta dismissed two wickets. Harsh Thaker and Saad Bin Zafar dismissed one wicket each. By the end of the 17th over, Bermuda scored 93 runs losing all the wickets. Sana was named Player of the Match. “It’s our dream to play in a World Cup,” Sana said on the receiving the award.
While speaking to the media Canada captain Saad Bin Zafar said, “A lot of cricketing gurus here wrote us off after the first day but I believe God could not have written a more dramatic script for us.”
“He tested our patience and self-belief but we kept a positive mindset throughout the tournament … Every day was a fight after that for every run because we were chasing that run rate. “It’s our dream to play in a World Cup,” concluded Saad Bin Zafar.
