Dallas. With the help of Aaron Jones’ unbeaten innings of 94 runs in 40 balls, co-host America made a great start in top level cricket by defeating Canada by seven wickets with 14 balls remaining in the opening match of the T20 World Cup. Batting first, Canada scored 194 runs for 5 wickets. In response, America won by scoring 197 runs for three wickets in 17.4 overs with the help of Andries Gaus’s 65 runs and Jones’ stormy innings. Jones hit 10 sixes and four fours in his innings.
While New York-born Jones impressed with his aggressive batting, Gaus also played a brilliant innings. America lost two wickets for 42 runs, after which Gaus took the responsibility. He hit seven fours and three sixes in his innings. Jones and Gaus shared a 131-run partnership for the third wicket, which helped America achieve the target easily. Earlier, Navneet Dhaliwal (61) and Aaron Johnson (23) gave Canada an aggressive start. After this, Nicholas Kirton scored 51 runs in 31 balls to take it to a challenging score.
Mumbai-born left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh took the first wicket of the tournament by dismissing Johnson in the sixth over. Pargat Singh, who came in to replace him, was also run out after scoring only five runs. Dhaliwal, however, got a good partner in the form of Kirton. Both of them added 62 runs for the third wicket. Former New Zealand cricketer Corey Anderson broke this partnership by dismissing Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal hit six fours and three sixes in his 44-ball innings. Wicketkeeper Shreyas Movva did not let the run rate slow down by scoring 32 runs off 16 balls. He hit two fours and as many sixes in his innings.