Vancouver Knights defeated Toronto Nationals by 25 runs in the last league stage match of the ongoing Global T20 Canada on Thursday. Asked to bat first, the Knights posted a total of 128/7 in 20 overs with Corbin Bosch scoring 30 off 26 balls. Later, the Nationals were bundled out for 103 as Harsh Thaker took a four-wicket haul. Despite ending up on the losing side, the match turned out to be really memorable for former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi, who stunned everyone with his two wickets.
The dashing 43-year-old cricketer gave a tough competition to all the youngsters with his brilliant spell. In the 11th over of the match, Afridi dismissed his former Pakistan teammate Mohammad Rizwan, who tried to go for a big hit but was caught by Farhan Malik at the deep mid-wicket.
Later in the 13th over, South Africa batter Rassie van der Dussen was caught and bowled by Afridi and departed for 2 off 6 balls.
Talking about the match, the Vancouver Knights had a forgetful day with the bat as no other batter apart from Corbin Bosch was able to go past the 30-run-mark. Wicketkeeper Mohammed Rizwan also scored 27 runs while Harsh Thaker scored 23. For Toronto Nationals, Afridi and Sikandar Raza took two wickets each while Faheem Ashraf and Farhan Malik took one wicket each.
Later, the National batters could not stand up to the expectations as they were bundled out for 103. Darren Bravo top-scored with 28 runs while Nicholas Kirton scored 19 runs. For the Knights, Harsh Thaker took four wickets while Corbin Bosch took three. Apart from them, Junaid Siddique and Ruben Trumpelmann scalped two and one wicket respectively.
After this match, the Knights faced Surrey Jaguars in the Qualifier 1 match of the G20 Canada 2023 and faced a 38-run defeat. They will now be squaring off against Montreal Tigers in the Qualifier 2 and battle out for a place in the summit clash of the tournament.