Former Canada captain Nitish Kumar made a spectacular start for his archrivals, the USA, smashing his old team with a brilliant 64 off 38 deliveries in a four-wicket victory. When Kumar made his international comeback against a side he had played for in the 2011 World Cup as a 17-year-old, he may have been feeling quite emotional. Given his state of mind at the time, the innings was extraordinary. He not only overcame the mental baggage that would have been appropriately exacerbated by some chirpy former teammates with his World Cup spot on the line, but he also saved the faltering USA from a 9 for 3.
Senior professional Corey Anderson offered Kumar support as they put together a 104-run partnership to get the USA out of the early mess in their pursuit of 169. After playing a cagey innings of 28 in the previous game, Anderson came into his own with a crucial knock of 55 in 48 deliveries. But once this courageous stand failed, there was still work to be done. When the USA needed to win by 27, Nisarg Patel and Harmeet Singh had to deliver the knockout blow. They did so without much difficulty.
Canada is led by Harsh Thaker and Dilpreet Bajwa.
With a no-look six over mid-wicket and an impressive off drive off Saurabh Netravalkar in the opening over, Aaron Johnson got Canada off to a fantastic start. Canada quickly reached 23 in 2 overs, but Netravalkar’s peach off an in dipper prevented them from finishing off Srimantha Wijeyeretne. After getting out for a first ball duck against Harmeet Singh in the previous game, Pargat Singh attempted to make amends by hitting a couple of clean boundaries through the off side. Pargat was lucky to escape an edge from Shadley Van Schalkwyk, but he was trapped in front of the ball by Van Schalkwyk on the following ball.
In the ninth over, Johnson and Thaker went all out on Nostush Kenjige, laying him for a pair of hard knocks to the ground. Nisarg Patel got Johnson to hole out for 33 in the next over, his second consecutive in this series. In his brief outburst, which culminated in a messy mix-up with Thaker, Nicholas Kirton wowed with a series of boundaries. Thaker hit Harmeet with a hammer to the sight screen off the next ball, unspooled. Before skying one of the next balls, he whacked Van Schalkwyk handsomely over a long distance. Bajwa took advantage of Usman Rafiq, scoring 14 runs in the 18th over, to propel Canada forward in the final over.
Anderson and Nitish taking a defensive stance
After taking three wickets in the opening two overs of the innings, Canada completely outclassed the USA. Rishiv Joshi finally struck gold in the opening over of the series, trapping Andries Gous in front of him after quite a bit of hammering. With a controversial catch at the boundary that removed Aaron Jones and a knick off Gajanand Singh the following ball, Saad Bin Zafar’s twin blows stunned the United States even more.
In an attempt to save the narrative for the USA, Kumar and Anderson managed a couple of boundaries apiece in the next four overs. By smoking a draw over the fence off Heyliger, Kumar demonstrated a certain level of urgency. With a barrage of boundaries against Nikhil Dutta and Zafar, Anderson vanquished the demons of the previous innings against the Canadian spinners, clobbering Dutta and Zafar downtown with authority. Taking a pie for his old friend Nikhil Dutta, Kumar also placed it over the square-leg fence. After the powerplay, the two put the USA in motion, racing to 50 runs in the following four. With the removal of Anderson, Thaker gave Canada peace of mind once more, but Kumar carried on having fun during the drinks break, displaying his entire batsmanship. In the seventeenth over, he ripped into Uday Singh, slamming a six over long off and forcing a boundary to mid-wicket before lofting another over long off.
Harmeet and ice-cold Nisarg return home to the USA
Despite losing wickets at a rate of 142 for 6, left arm spinners Nisarg and Harmeet prevented Canada from gaining any more ground. Harmeet smoked one out of Uday Singh’s presence after Nisarg created space to smack him down. The seasoned pair took advantage of Singh’s relative inexperience. In the last over, Nisarg finally hammered home another boundary to give the USA the victory. The two put a stop to Canada’s suffering on the field with a game-changing 27 off 16 deliveries after applying the pressure and allowing them to score less than a run a ball in their 4 overs.
