Yuvraj Samra’s brilliant century went in vain as New Zealand marched into the Super Eight stage with a dominant eight-wicket win over Canada at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
Chasing 174, New Zealand cantered home riding on Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra’s fifties. The Kiwis were in a state of bother at 30 for 2 but Phillips and Ravindra took charge and ensured the victory with five overs to spare.
Earlier, Canada batting first scored 173 for 4 with Samra hitting a superb 110. The 19-year-old is the youngest to score a century in T20 World Cup. He reached his century off 58 balls to become the first batter from an associate nation to score a hundred in T20 World Cup. Dilpreet Bajwa (36) supported him well as Canada notched up a competitive total.
New Zealand started off the run-chase with intent as Finn Allen scored 21 off eight balls before Saad Bin Zafar struck with the scalp of Tim Seifert. The Dilon Heyliger got rid of Allen to reduce New Zealand to 30 for 2 inside four overs.
Ravindra, who was coming into the match under pressure anchored the innings and struck boundaries off Dilpreet Bajwa and Jaskaran Singh. At the other end, Phillips launched attack by scoring a 22-ball fifty, which was fastest by any Kiwi batters in T20 World Cups. He took Canada’s spin attack apart with huge sixes.
Ravindra and Phillips put up a 100-run stand and brought down the required run-rate under four by the 13th over. Meanwhile, Ravindra got to his half-century with a six over mid-wicket.
With Canada bowlers failing to break the partnership and dropped catches not helping their cause, Ravindra sealed the match with a boundary off Jaskaran. Phillips was not out on 76 and Ravindra remained unbeaten on 59 as New Zealand joined West Indies, South Africa, India, England and Sri Lanka in the Super Eights.
