BRAMPTON: Sherfane Rutherford and Andre Russell’s cameos powered Montreal Tigers to win this year’s GT20 Canada with a five-wicket victory over Surrey Jaguars in a nail-biting final on Sunday.
Carrying a seven-match undefeated streak Surrey Jaguars were asked to bat first in the GT20 final, but could not get the start they needed, as they lost Mohammad Haris (23 off 22) in the seventh over with just 35 runs on the board.
Tigers bowled tight lengths and kept the Jaguars’ batters under control, as they could hardly score freely throughout the innings.
Jatinder Singh and Litton Das crafted a carefully knitted partnership of 31 runs off 28 balls before Das (12) was cleaned up by Aayan Afzal Khan in the 11th over.
Captain Iftikhar Ahmed joined Singh but could only manage to score eight before heading back to the dugout in the 14th over.
Ayaan Khan, then played a quick cameo of 26 runs off 15 balls, to give some respite to Jaguars amid the brilliant pace bowling from the Tigers.
Surrey Jaguars managed to finish at 130/6 with opening batter Jatinder Singh leading the charge with an unbeaten 56 off 57 balls, laced up with three boundaries.
Besides Mohammad Haris and Ayaan Khan, no other batter played at a strike rate of 100 or more.
Aayan Afzal Khan picked up two wickets for 21 runs, while, Andre Russell, Abbas Afridi and Carlos Brathwaite took one wicket apiece.
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Chasing a modest total of 131, the Tigers got off to a disastrous start as they lost Muhammad Waseem on the third ball of the innings. Srimantha Wijeyeratne soon followed him to the pavilion after scoring 12 off 15.
Chris Lynn and Dilpreet Singh were looking to settle down and shift gears when Iftikhar Ahmed sent both of them back to the pavilion in four balls. Lynn played a cautious knock of 31 runs off 35 balls, whereas Singh scored 14 off 15 balls.
The Tigers were facing the challenging task of scoring 71 runs from 53 deliveries when Sherfane Rutherford came out to bat.
Relishing momentum at the back of his 34-ball 48 in the second qualifier of the GT20 Canada, Rutherford charged on the Jaguars’ bowlers with belligerent hitting while his partner Dipendra Singh anchored the innings around him.
Singh remained a touch too slow as he could only manage to score 16 from 17 balls before being retired out and then came Andre Russell.
With Tigers requiring 25 from the final two overs, Russell stood up for his side and finished the game in style with a six off the final delivery of the match.
Russell’s cameo of 20 off 6 featured two sixes, while Rutherford hit two sixes and three boundaries on his way to a 29-ball 38.
Iftikhar Ahmed, captain of the Jaguars team, managed to take two wickets for just eight runs. Whereas, Spencer Johnson and Ayaan Khan each took one wicket.
For his sensible knock, Sherfane Rutherford was adjudged the player of the GT20 Final and player of the series for his brilliance with the bat throughout the tournament.
This was the third edition of GT20 Canada, the previous editions saw Vancouver Knights and Winnipeg Hawks becoming champions in 2018, and 2019 respectively.
READ: Abbas Afridi, Rutherford power Montreal Tigers into GT20 final