BRAMPTON: Mohammad Amir decimated Montreal Tigers’ batting lineup before Usman Khawaja and Reeza Hendricks steered Vancouver Knights to victory in the 17th match of the GT20 Canada 2024.
After winning the toss, Vancouver Knights invited Montreal Tigers to bat and Dwaine Pretorius provided the first breakthrough as he dismissed Chris Lynn.
Amiir picked his first wicket in the next over when he clean-bowled a struggling Dilpreet Bajwa.
Pretorius got Gerhard Erasmus in the next over, followed by Amir casting another batter as he disturbed the stumps of Parveen Kumar to reduce the Tigers to 16-4 in 4.3 overs.
Sherfane Rutherford then played an 18-ball cameo of 22 runs, while Azmatullah Omarzai scored 30 runs from 26 balls to show some resistance against the Knights’ bowling attack.
However, no other batter could pose any threat and the whole batting lineup bundled for a meagre 109 runs in 19.2 overs.
Mohammad Amir led the attack with the figures of 3-18, while Dwaine Pretorius, Harsh Thaker, and Sandeep Lamichhane picked two wickets each.
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In response, Vancouver Knights lost Harsh Thaker in the first over but Usman Khawaja and Reeza Hendricks helped them recover with a partnership of 67 runs.
Khawaja played a cautious knock of 31 runs from 44 balls, while Hendricks scored 39 off 30 with the help of four boundaries and two sixes.
However, both batters fell in quick succession to leave the team at 80-3 in 13.1 overs.
Richie Berrington then scored a steady 17 before Corbin Bosch dismissed him with two runs required to win. Pretorius hit the winning runs to seal a five-wicket victory with eight balls to spare.
Azmatullah Omarzai and Gerhard Erasmus picked two wickets each for the Montreal Tigers.
Earlier in another GT20 Canada match, Brampton Wolves defeated Surrey Jaguars by six wickets. Thomas Draca and Beau Webster shared six wickets to book Jaguars for 124 runs.
George Munsey then struck a quick 46-run knock to lead his side to a dominant victory in 15.1 overs.
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