Toronto Nationals Win Over Montreal Tigers To Guarantee Global T20 Canada Championship
![Toronto Nationals celebrate their victory after clinching the Global T20 Canada title Toronto Nationals celebrate their victory after clinching the Global T20 Canada title](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1280,h_720,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/cricket_on_si/01j5407nmzpg7zdd56z2.jpg)
By Mohamed Bahaa
Toronto Nationals' dominant performance terminates the reign of Montreal Tigers
Toronto Nationals gave a fantastic effort to dethrone the incumbent champions, Montreal Tigers, by eight wickets in an exciting ending to the fourth season of the Global T20 Canada. The Nationals' first championship in North America's top T20 tournament, this resounding victory on Sunday
Held at TD Stadium in Brampton, Toronto Nationals captain Colin Munro chose to field after winning the toss—a choice that proved crucial. Under duress, Montreal's batting order suffered as they only scored a modest 96/9 in their allowed 20 overs. A long rain delay aggravated the difficult batting conditions, therefore making the pitch even more difficult to negotiate.
Using these circumstances brilliantly, Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff produced a devastating performance with four overs yielding figures of 3/8. Early successes for the Montreal Tigers included dismissals of important players Gerhard Erasmus and Tim Seifert in consecutive deliveries, leaving the team reeling. Taken out by Toronto's Romario Shepherd in the second over, Praveen Kumar fell first and set the tone for the remainder of the game.
The top-order collapse of Montreal persisted as Chris Lynn's brief stay at the crease came to an end with a mistimed slog caught readily by wicketkeeper Unmukt Chand off Behrendorff's bowling. The Tigers' problems were exacerbated by Sherfane Rutherford's rapid exit, which left half of their team back in the pavilion before the power play ended.
A ray of light for Montreal came from a strong alliance between Corbin Bosch (35) and Jaskaran Singh (16), who guaranteed the Tigers ran through their 20 overs and added 46 runs. Against a motivated Toronto team, the total was far from competitive, though.
Taking 14 wickets over the tournament, Toronto Nationals' Romario Shepherd was named the bowler of the event. With 218 runs, George Munsey of Brampton Wolves was awarded the tournament's batting champion. While Junaid Siddique of the Toronto Nationals was named Player of the Tournament for his all-around efforts, Dilpreet Bajwa of the Montreal Tigers was identified as the tournament's top young player.
This triumph not only represents a major accomplishment for the Toronto Nationals but also denotes a change in the Global T20 Canada's competitive environment.