Canadian fightback led by spinners

Nepal remained in the ascendancy after a solid opening partnership of 48 in nine overs between Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel. Canada was on the back foot at 96/2 after 18 overs, with Bhurtel in his sixties, and needed a turnaround.

After opening the bowling, Bin Zafar returned to the attack for a second spell and combined with Harsh Thaker to turn the match on its head. Canada was restricted to just 53 runs in the next 15 overs, but more importantly, Bhurtel's wicket triggered a collapse in the middle order, with Nepal all out for 141/5 in their 30 overs.

It is a pleasure to watch Bin Zafar's willingness to fly the ball and keep the batsmen guessing. After repeatedly hitting the outside edge of the right-hander, Bhurtel was drawn out of his crease to a delivery of short length, beaten by the turn as he tried to flick to the onside, and wicketkeeper Shreyas Movva did the rest. Thaker's consistency with line and length kept the batsmen at bay. When Kushal Malla tried to break the deadlock, he could only find Nicholas Kirton at long-on.

Thaker ended up taking figures of 6-0-15-1, while Bin Zafar took seven consecutive overs for 30 runs and two wickets in his second spell. Not to be outdone, Shahid Ahamdzai's left-arm orthodox bowling posed plenty of questions, finishing with figures of 8-2-26-1.