Follow UsSaad Bin Zafar heaped heavy praise on Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva and the bowling unit after Canada registered their maiden win in a T20 World Cup on June 7 (Friday). The Men in Red defeated Ireland by 12 runs in New York and Zafar couldn’t be more proud of his team.
Asked to bat first on a spicy surface, Canada lost four wickets inside nine overs before Nicholas Kirton (35-ball 49) and Shreyas Movva (36-ball 37) put on 75 runs for the fifth wicket to propel their team to 137. In the second innings, Jeremy Gordon (2/16), Dillon Heyliger (2/18), Junaid Siddiqui (1/27) and Zafar (1/22) all bowled with good control and restricted Ireland to 125/7.
“Very proud moment for the team. The way Kirton and Movva batted, we knew we had a good total to defend. We needed a good performance from the bowling unit and I am so proud of my bowlers for putting their hand up and delivering,” said Canada captain Zafar.
“The wicket got a bit slow today, so it worked to our advantage. We gambled with an extra spinner and I feel both myself and Junaid bowled really well. One game at a time, we need to enjoy this win and come back strong against Pakistan. We are here to play positive cricket.”
Kirton, who was named Player of the Match, took his time at the start before taking the attack to Craig Young. The left-hander slammed two sixes and a four in one over but missed out on his second fifty of the tournament by one run.
“Trust me, it wasn't that easy. Just tried to get in, get the pace of the wicket. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. There was an area in the middle of the wicket that was a bit up and down, but otherwise, it was a good wicket to bat on. Very good to get our first win in the WC,” said Kirton.
Meanwhile, Ireland skipper Paul Stirling didn’t shy away from admitting that they were bad in all three departments. “Tough loss today, we weren't at the races today. The target was gettable, we didn't think we'd struggle too much.
“We were off in all three facets today, we need to show a better game when we go to Miami and Florida. We don't want to look too far into the future, we've got the USA next.”
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