Yuvraj Singh-led Toronto Nationals defeated Edmonton Royals by two wickets in the ongoing Global T20 Canada on Saturday (local time).
The match had a delayed start due to rain, and as a result, the game was curtailed to 19 overs per side.
Chasing 192, Nationals had a poor start as they lost both their openers with just 29 runs on the board. With the dismissal of the openers, Yuvraj Singh and Heinrich Klassen got together at the crease and put up a 56-run stand.
Yuvraj played a knock of 35 runs, but as soon as he started to look at his flourishing best, he was sent back to the pavilion by Ben Cutting. Keiron Pollard (2) failed to leave an impression and the team was left in a spot of bother at 88/4.
Nationals lost wickets in the middle overs and at one stage they looked out of the game at 125/7 in the 14th over. But Manpreet Gony had other plans as he played a quickfire knock of 33 runs off just 12 balls.
Gony was dismissed in the seventh over, but Salman Nazar and Mark Montfort ensured Nationals' victory by two wickets in the 18th over.
Earlier, Ben Cutting's knock of 43 runs off just 24 balls propelled Royals to 191/6 in the allotted twenty overs after being asked to bat first.
Royals lost their opener Richie Berrington (5) cheaply as he was sent back to the pavilion by Jeremy Gordon. Faf du Plessis and Navneet Dhaliwal put up a quickfire 40-run stand, but du Plessis (28) was dismissed in the seventh over to reduce Nations to 50/2.
The team kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, and as a result, the team found itself at 105/5 in the 14th over. At that point, Cutting and Shadab Khan got together at the crease and stitched together a partnership of 65 runs.
Khan (36) was dismissed in the 18th over, but Cutting ensured the team goes past the 190-run mark.
Edmonton Royals will face Brampton Wolves on July 28 whereas Toronto Nationals will take on Winnipeg Hawks on July 29.
Brief Scores: Toronto Nationals 192/8 (Heinrich Klassen 45, Yuvraj Singh 35, Shadab Khan 2-42) defeat Edmonton Royals 191/6 (Ben Cutting 43*, Shadab Khan 36, Chris Green 3-33) by two wickets.
( With inputs from ANI )
