Chennai, Feb 17 (IANS) Despite a spirited fight, Canada fell short against a rampaging New Zealand, but captain Dilpreet Bajwa was proud of his team’s historic effort, particularly the standout performance from 19-year-old Yuvraj Samra. Canada posted a competitive 173/4, powered by a 100-run opening partnership between Bajwa and Samra, before New Zealand chased it down with authority.

“We were a bit confident. Of course, we have one bowler short, Kaleem Sana, but we were a bit confident that ball’s gonna spin. When Bin (Saad Bin Zafar) and the other guy was bowling, ball was spinning. But yeah, hard luck happened. The one bowler short affected us,” he said after the loss against New Zealand.

Bajwa’s 36 off 39 balls laid the platform for Samra’s record-breaking innings, and he praised his partner’s achievement.

“We were struggling from top-order. In the last two games, we were losing our four or five wickets in circles. So our plan was to just take in the ground and as much over we can play. And I think, hats off to Yuvraj. He’s just youngest player in the World Cup and finishing with a hundred this match. I think very proud moment for him. And I think it’s a very proud moment for all Canadians that we had a hundred run partnership by opening pair against one of the biggest team,” Bajwa said.

Bajwa acknowledged the lessons learned from competing against a full member nation, as he said, “When you play against these teams that we are lacking as associate and we learned quickly that in the last two games, we were losing wickets, but we planned accordingly and we did well this time,” he added.

Looking at the bigger picture for Associate cricket, Bajwa emphasised the need for more exposure, saying, “we need more cricket against these big teams like full-member nations. When we get that, I think we’re gonna compete them. Now we’re just competing, but hopefully when we get more cricket against these teams, we’ll hopefully beat them. And we’ve been beating last World Cup, we beat Ireland and we’re still looking for one here. But, Canadian cricket, I think people’s gonna follow our cricket because of Yuvraj. He’s got a hundred and we had a big partnership. So now I think people are gonna follow Canadian cricket too.”

Despite the loss, Bajwa remained optimistic about Canada’s next challenge. “Nothing to lose, always to win. So I think we’re gonna go with full stretch and we’re gonna do well day after tomorrow, hopefully.

–IANS

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