Global T20 Canada, Toronto Nationals vs Montreal Tigers, 15th Match: 5 Talking Points

The final game of the first round saw an exciting and a nail-biting finish as the Darren Sammy-led Toronto Nationals beat Lasith Malinga’s Montreal Tigers on the last ball and with just 1 wicket remaining.

The trend of fielding first after winning the toss continued as Darren Sammy inserted the Tigers into bat first. Fifties from George Worker and Moises Henriques lifted the total to 176. Mohammed Sami starred with the ball for the Nationals as he took 3/34 and was one of the only two wicket-takers in the innings.

Chasing almost 9 runs an over, TTN lost their top three inside the first five overs and were reeling at 27/3. However, Anton Devcich and Nitish Kumar scored 40s to keep the Nationals in the hunt. But they once again lost a slump of wickets and slipped to 149/8. But Kieron Pollard dragged them to the final over (and was out on the 3rd ball of the 20th over) before Kesrick Williams hit the winning boundary to seal a thrilling game.

#5 Mohammad Sami’s burst

Image result for Mohammad Sami Global T20 Canada

In the three games he played before this game, Mohammad Sami didn’t pick a single wicket. He has largely been expensive and had an economy of more than 10 in two of those games. However, in the last group stage game, he was the best TTN bowler as he picked up a three-fer.

After conceding a four and a six in his first over, Sami came back well as he dismissed Sunil Narine and Dwayne Smith in the space of 3 deliveries. He first scalped Narine out with a bouncer and then foxed Smith with a clever slower delivery.

He did concede 12 runs in his third over but he returned with a very good final over where he conceded just 6 runs in the 18th over and also got the key wicket of Moises Henriques. He finished with figures of 3/34 and was one of the only bowlers to pick a wicket for TTN in this game.