USA sealed a 4-0 win in the T20I series over neighbours Canada by winning the fifth match in Houston.
Report ! M.Naveed
 |
In a significant boost to their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 preparations, USA defeated Canada by four wickets in the fifth and final T20I of the series on 13 April.
After Canada skipper Saad Bin Zafar won the toss and elected to bat first, contributions from Aaron Johnson (33), Harsh Thaker (38) and Dilpreet Singh (33) helped post a competitive total of 168/5. Sauarbh Netravalkar (1/29), Shadley van Schalkwyk (2/42) and Nisarg Patel (1/22) were among the wickets.
In response, Rishiv Joshi and Saad rocked USA with early wickets, leaving the team stumbling at 9/3. However, former Canada international Nitish Kumar led USA’s fightback, slamming 64 off just 38 balls, laced with four fours and as many sixes. Harmeet Singh and Nisarg Patel helped close the chase with four wickets in hand.
Nitish was the Player of the Match for his enterprising knock.
The T20 World Cup tournament co-hosts were on a roll heading into the final game, having already sealed the series 3-0 in the previous game.
USA won the first game of the series by six wickets after they chased down Canada’s target of 132 in 17.3 overs. Nosthusha Kenjige was the star performer with 3/21.
View this post on Instagram
In the second game, USA posted an imposing 230/3, their highest-ever total in T20I cricket. USA’s top three batters adopted an aggressive approach, with Steven Taylor (54 from 25), Monank Patel (68 from 35), and Andries Gous (57 off 35) all going ballistic. Canada gave a glimpse of their batting prowess as well, led by Aaron’s brilliant 74, though the target proved to be 31 runs too many despite their valiant efforts.
The third game was abandoned while USA took the series in the fourth encounter by 14 runs. Harmeet’s quickfire 34* from 17 helped the hosts reach 159/6 before he followed it up with a career-best 4/18 to keep Canada to 145/6.
