GT20 Canada: Brampton Wolves Dethrones Montreal Tigers, Moves on Top

They say in cricket catches win matches and this is what happened in the match between Brampton Wolves and Montreal Tigers.

Two brilliant catches one by Chris Green and the other by Logan van Beek helped  Brampton Wolves to wrap up their crucial game against Montreal Tigers by 15 runs.

In fact, it was Logan who in his 19th over not only had Dipindra Airee caught but also kept the score under check as Tigers were at 123 for seven at the end of 18 overs. When Logan had dangerous-looking Rutherford caught at deep extra cover for 10 matches tilted in favour of Brampton Wolves. Logan followed it with a brilliant running catch to dismiss Srimantha.

Eigh two points from this game Brampton Wolves move to the top of the table with seven points from four games closely followed by Montreal Tigers with six points from four games.

Cricket is a game that goes well with good weather. Needing 144 to win, the Tigers lost their first wicket at 15 when caught at long off of the bowling of Ahmadzai.

When Chrys Lynn S.A.S. was introduced into the attack he met with immediate success as he had Lynn caught brilliantly by Shahid Ahmad with the scoreboard reading 32 for two. Dilpreet who came next executed some good drives besides plying two lofty shots over the covers to take his individual score to 17.   Shakib who hit the first six off  Ahmadzai was gone next ball with his individual score reading. In comes Rutherford the hero of yesterday. With a score reading 61 for three, the match looked evenly poised. Yesterday Dilpreet and Rutherford pulled Tigers out of the woods with a good partnership.

Tigers suffered a setback when Rutherford was brilliantly caught at deep cover. Cricket fans had their prayers for pleasant weather answered by Lord Indra as a pleasant breeze with the temperature hovering around the late 20s saw Usman Khan and Aaron Johnson opening the Wolves innings.

Kaleem Sana who opened the bowling for the Tigers saw his second ball hit past covers by Usman for the first boundary. An interesting bat and ball contest thus got underway to mark the beginning of the fight of the Titans. When Shakib came up with his spinners from the other end, Usman despatched his first delivery to the fine leg fence. Shakib, however, had his revenge when he clean bowled Aaron Johnson for six to make Wolves 17 for one at the end of the second over.

Unperturbed Usman flicked Kaleem off his toes for his third boundary to greet new batsman left-handed Mark Chapman. Another slice through slips off Kaleem took the score past 25 in three overs.

Mark Chapman had his first boundary, a beautiful drive too long on off new bowler Carlos Brathwaite.
Usman pulls a short one from Muhammad Afridi who came in for Colin for his fifth boundary. Usman hits an up-push shot on the offside to hoist 50 of his team. Wolves looked in good nick with 53 for one in six overs.
Aryan Khan did not disappoint his captain as he had Usman Khan caught at deep mid wicket for 33 to make Wolves 53 for 2. This brought in Hussain Talat at the crease. He had his second wicket of the over when Talat jumped out to be stumped by Srimantha Wijayeratne. From 53 for one it was 55 for 3.  New batsman was Colin de Grabdhomme.

Grandhomme gets into the groove by hitting successive balls from Dipindra Airee to take the score to 88 for three in 10 overs. A major blow for the Wolves when Mark Chapman was caught at long off on the first ball of the 12th over. He made 21.  In comes Rizwan Cheema.

Former Indian Test player Harbhajan Singh opted to stay out in the crucial game against Montreal Tigers. While Tim Southee of New Zealand continues to wear the hat of captaincy as the Wolves did not make any changes in its playing XI. On the other hand, Montreal Tigers led by Chrys Lynn also named the same team that had beaten  Vancouver Knights yesterday.

They win the toss and put the Wolves to bat. Wolves posted 100 of their innings on the first ball of the 24th over when Grandhomme hit Carlos for a boundary but saw Rizwan leaving him caught at long-on with the score reading 106 for five. Rizwan scored 8.
After the dismissal of Grandhomme on the first ball of the last over, the Wolves lost their skipper Tim Southed in the same over of Colin Brathwaite. Interestingly, three overs, two by Aaryan Khan and one by Colin claimed six of Wolves wickets.

Prabhjot Singh