With a scorching cameo of 34 for 17 deliveries and a devastating spell of 4 for 18, Harmeet Singh enabled the USA to secure an insurmountable advantage over Canada in their Twenty20 International series. Despite an otherwise aimless USA innings, Harmeet’s fireworks at the end propelled the team to a competitive 159. Twice in the fourth over, he placed himself on the verge of a hat-trick, first demoralising the Canadians with a twin blow and then derail their pursuit once again with a double blow at a critical stage in the fifteenth over.
The captain of Canada, Saad Bin Zafar, was surpassed overall by Harmeet. Zafar scored 29 runs off of 18 deliveries and returned statistics of 1 for 21 in his 3 overs. Canada remained competitive after opener Dilpreet Bajwa’s half-century until he was removed in the fifteenth over with 68 required from 34 deliveries. Zafar had a quick innings, but ultimately the lower order was unable to put up a convincing fight, falling down by 14 runs.
Once more, Steven Taylor uses a powerplay to scare Canada.
Taylor continued from where he left off in the first match. He went off the blocks quickly, hitting three boundaries in the opening over, reminding Rishiv Joshi of the ghosts of the previous two games. Monank, having just come off two half-centuries in the series in as many games, misplayed a drive off Uday Singh, falling for zero. Taylor locked in with Joshi once again, hitting a straight shot over the sight screen after swatting a draw through square leg. With a ferocious blow downtown, he embraced Zafar, showing no signs of weakness.
Prior to Harmeet’s valiant actions, Canada exerted pressure on the USA.
Immediately following the powerplay, Dillon Heyliger snagged the gloves of a fighting Aaron Johnson and clipped off a rampaging Taylor (39 off 24). Against Harsh Thaker, Jones put himself in top gear and hit a couple of boundaries, but he was unable to convert his start.
After a nearly six-year break, Corey Anderson made his comeback to international cricket with this match. The former Kiwi could only register a shaky 28 off 29, but he displayed some impressive moments when he hit consecutive boundaries against Heyliger. Nikhil Dutta and Zafar stifled the run flow for five overs during which Milind Kumar and Anderson were unable to produce a boundary. In an attempt to make rapid runs, Milind and Anderson fell while the USA was leading at 16 overs, 111 for 6.
Harmeet used a few deliveries to buy some time before launching a vicious attack on Canada by cutting Heyliger’s upper lip. In the following over, he ripped 16 off of Thaker. In addition to sending Thaker over the square leg boundary, the left-hander also sent a smash over extra cover and a thunderous six over long on. In 26 deliveries, he and Shadley Van Schalkwyk added 48 runs to regain the momentum from Canada.
Harmeet, the hurricane, destroys Canada
After hitting Aaron Johnson and Pargat Singh off successive deliveries in the fourth over, Harmeet had Canada in a complete mess. While Pargat was left beguiled halfway down the track off a length ball that straightened enough after pitching, Johnson played all over Harmeet’s arm ball to get stuck in front.
In order to get rolling, Bajwa whipped a couple of boundaries off Netravalkar’s legs. He also contributed a 75-run stand with Nicholas Kirton, bringing Canada back from a 15-run deficit. As Bajwa skillfully reverse swept Nosthus Kenjige over the third man fence, Kirton clattered Nisarg over long on, giving the appearance that the two were practically in control of the chase. USA could breathe easy as Taylor’s golden arm picked Kirton off a misplaced plod. In the next over, Harmeet returned to castle a threatening Bajwa and then trapped Shreyas Movva dead in front of the next ball. Zafar kept Canada in the game for a bit, but he was unable to stop what was going to happen. 66 out of the final 5 needed to be scored.
