Canada reaches tri-series final with run-fest over Hong Kong

Canada continued their winning ways in Hong Kong with a convincing 56-run win over the hosts. The result booked a place in the final against Malaysia.

Put into bat by Hong Kong, the Canadians were in trouble after the early dismissal of Navneet Dhaliwal. But that laid the red carpet for a magical 242-run partnership between exciting 17-year-old prospect Yuvraj Samra and the experienced Pargat Singh. The duo combined for 18 fours and 11 sixes to guide Canada to a mammoth 367-3, scoring centuries and hitting plenty of big hits.

Aizaz Khan's scintillating 104 off 77 and Nasrulla Rana's 27 off 12 provided a momentary scare, but Hong Kong's innings thereafter were fairly rudimentary as Canada picked up wickets at the right times.

A number of changes were made to the side for this match. As a result, several key players were rested to avoid playing three 50-over matches in four days. That would have been a particularly tough task in view of the fact that the previous three months had been a period of rest.

Regular captain Saad Bin Zafar, Aaron Johnson, Dillon Heyliger, Srimantha Wijeyeratne and Uday Bhagwan were all rested for the match. In the squad were Nikhil Dutta, Pargat Singh, Shreyas Movva, Harsh Thaker and Shahid Ahmadzai. Thaker was proud of the way the day went, as he captained Canada's senior side for the first time in his career.

Below are Canada's playing XI. There is also a link to the scorecard and five takeaways.

Playing XI:

Navneet Dhaliwal, Yuvraj Samra, Pargat Singh, Shreyas Movva, Harsh Thaker, Ajayveer Hundal, Udaybir Walia, Sahib Malhotra, Shahid Ahmadzai, Nikhil Dutta, Ishwarjot Sohi.

STATEMENT FROM SAMRA

Yuvraj Samra was full of determination against Hong Kong on Saturday after scoring just one run in his first outing against Malaysia. After the early wicket of opening partner Navneet Dhaliwal, Samra absorbed the pressure and ensured his opponents couldn't gain momentum.

At one stage, Samra was on 18 off 46, and later in the innings, he was on 41 off 83, showing a level of patience and grit that belied a 17-year-old. Once the hard work was done, the left-hander cut loose in spectacular fashion. He scored 83 off his next 54 balls with some bold strokes that included eight fours and six sixes.

It was an innings that showed Samra's immense potential and vindicated head coach Pubudu Dassanayake's decision to include him.

SINGH'S EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF

A big reason why Samra was able to take his time in the first half of his innings was the introduction of Pargat Singh at No. 3, who did a superb job of shepherding the youngster as well as the innings as a whole. Singh signalled his intent in the 14th over against fast bowler Aizaz Khan for 18 runs, after finding his feet in the first 20 balls or so. That over, in fact, set the stage for a siege of Khan's bowling throughout, as he finished with figures of 10-0-95-1.

When going full steam, as he did on this occasion, Singh is an absolute delight to watch, hitting all parts of the ground. There was a lofted cover drive for six off Yasim Muraza's left-arm orthodox in the 20th over. It was absolutely majestic. His century also came with a six. It was an uppercut over the third man. The 31-year-old was dismissed in the 40th over, once again looking for a tonk off Khan, but holed out to long-on.

His dismissal brought immediate appreciation for what the crowd had just seen, a 242-run partnership for the second wicket in 36.3 overs (219 balls) that effectively knocked Hong Kong out of the competition. With the score on 33/1 after 10 overs, it would have taken a brave man to predict a final total of 367, but Singh and Samra made it happen.

MOVVA LIKE JAGGER

While Samra and Singh certainly stole the show, wicketkeeper-batsman Shreyas Movva was promoted to No. 4 in place of Srimantha Wijeyeratne. He set the pace for Canada with an innovative 54 off 35.

Movva made brilliant use of his crease, dancing around it looking for scoops and reverse sweeps, while also bowling the odd conventional shot when the moment called for it.

CAPTAINCY DEBUT SHINES FOR THAKER

Harsh Thaker joined in the fun with a quickfire 17 off eight balls, including two sixes. It was a memorable cameo in his first match as senior captain.

Canada's star all-rounder didn't stop there. His off-spin opened the bowling and provided the early breakthroughs for both openers as Hong Kong continued to fall behind the 8-ball. Thaker finished his first spell with two wickets for 22 runs. His maiden came in six overs.

DEATH BOWLING SHOWS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

With Hong Kong at 238/6 from 41.3 overs and still needing 128 off 51 balls, there was perhaps a touch of complacency. Aizaz Khan and Nasrulla Rana took full advantage if that was the case. They plundered 46 runs off the next 18 balls to reduce the equation to 82 off 33. Some clever fielding by Navneet Dhaliwal in the deep then saw Rana dismissed.

Racing to his left from deep midwicket, Dhaliwal took the catch but saw his momentum take him beyond the rope and threw the ball to Ajayveer Hundal, who was well placed to assist his teammate by running in from long-on to complete the relay catch.

The concession of 73 runs off the last 38 balls bowled will be a cause for concern, but as Thaker pointed out after the match, there probably wasn't enough of a balance of pace and spin options in this match to mitigate that better. Once again, credit must go to Khan. He bounced back extremely well from being hammered for 95 runs in his 10 overs.