Brampton: Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh had a disappointing debut for Toronto Nationals as they were defeated by Vancouver Knights by eight wickets in the opening match of the Global T20 Canada on Thursday.
Chasing 160, Knights lost their openers with just 36 runs on the board. Chris Gayle (12) and Tobias Visee (20) were sent back to the pavilion by Mark Montfort and Jeremy Gordon, respectively.
Chadwick Bolton and Rassie van der Dussen stitched together a match-winning partnership and the duo mixed caution with aggression to take Knights safely over the line by eight wickets and 16 balls to spare.
Bolton and van der Dussen had put up an unbeaten stand of 126 runs, which saw both batsmen brought up their respective fifties. Bolton and van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 59 and 65, respectively.
Earlier, Henry Klaasen knocked off 41 runs off just 20 balls which enabled Toronto Nationals to put up a score of 159 runs on the board after being asked to bat first.
Nationals got off to a bad start as they lost their opener Brendon McCullum (4) pretty early as he was sent back to the pavilion by Andile Phehlukwayo. Rodrigo Thomas and Calum Macleod put up a brief 42-run stand, but their resistance was cut short by Saad Bin Zafar as he dismissed MacLeod (17) to reduce Nationals to 52-2 in the ninth over.
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Yuvraj Singh came out to bat next, and he failed to rotate the strike and increase the tempo of the innings. Thomas also departed after playing a knock of 41 runs by Michael Rippon.
Yuvraj after playing a knock of 14 runs off 21 balls, was finally sent back to the pavilion by Rizwan Cheema. In the end, Heinrich Klaasen played a knock of 41 runs off just 20 balls to take the score of Nationals past the 155-run mark.
Nationals will next face Edmonton Royals on July 27 whereas Vancouver Knights will take on Winnipeg Hawks on July 28.
Brief Scores: Vancouver Knights 162/2 (Rassie van der Dussen 65*, Chadwick Bolton 59*, Mark Montfort 1-33) defeat Toronto Nationals 159/5 ( Heinrich Klassen 41, Rodrigo Thomas 41, Rizwan Cheema 1-16) by eight wickets.
