GT20 Canada: Montreal Tigers defeat Edmonton Royals

Brampton [Canada]: Faf du Plessis-led side Edmonton Royals remained winless in the ongoing Global T20 Canada, as they lost their match against Montreal Tigers by four wickets.

Chasing 154, Tigers lost their first wicket with just 16 runs on the board as opener Ravindu Gunasekera (13) was dismissed by Kyle Phillip. Anton Devcich next came out to bat and along with Kyle Coetzer put up an 85-run stand, taking Tigers to a safe position.

Devcich (32) was sent back to the pavilion by Shadab Khan in the 15th over and after Devchich’s dismissal, Tigers lost four more wickets to leave themselves in a spot of bother at 135/6, still needing 18 more runs for the win from seven balls.

However, Scott Kuggeleijn and Dillon Heyliger were able to produce big shots in the final over to take Tigers over the line by four wickets and with two balls to spare.

Earlier, du Plessis’s knock of 55 runs off just 20 balls enabled the Royals to post 153 runs on the board after opting to bat first.

Royals got off to a bad start as opener Richie Berrington was dismissed for a duck. Du Plessis next came out to bat and he played a quickfire knock of 55 runs off just 20 balls.

Du Plessis was finally dismissed by Nikhil Dutta in the seventh over, reducing Royals to 79/2. The team kept on losing wickets after the skipper’s dismissal and as a result, they failed to stitch a solid partnership.

In the end, Royals were bowled out for 153 runs in 19.3 overs. Dutta and Heyliger scalped three wickets each for Tigers.

Edmonton Royals will next face Vancouver Knights on August 2 whereas Montreal Tigers will take on Toronto Nationals on August 4.

Brief Scores: Montreal Tigers 154/6 (Kyle Coetzer 62, Anton Devcich 32, Kyle Phillip 4-38) defeat Edmonton Royals 153/10 (Faf du Plessis 55, Navneet Dhaliwal 23, Dillon Heyliger 3-14) by four wickets.