The UAE tour of Canada concluded with another T20 at the TCSCC and another loss for Canada. Canada set UAE a reasonable target of 137, thanks to a good partnership between Raza-ur-Rehman (47) and Ashish Bagai (46) who put on 86 after Canada lost early wickets. UAE got off to a brisk start in reply and had little trouble in completing a 7-wicket win in the 19th over.

Canada won the toss batted. Cheema and Gunasekera opened, and Cheema, despite obvious aggressive intent, had trouble getting the ball away.He did hit a couple of boundaries but played out the third over as a maiden. Gunasekera slog swept a six in the fourth over then picked up a short ball over square leg for another. He tried to repeat the shot later in the over and holed out at deep-square leg – 29/1 in the 5th over. Cheema stepped away to try and hit over the offside but just edged to third man for 12 off 20 balls. Patel was fortunate not to be given run-out later in the same over – replays suggested he may well have been short of his ground attempting a risky single. He only lasted another over as he tried to cut a straight and not particularly short ball and missed- 39/3. Raza-ur-Rehman and Bagai brought up the 50 in the 11th over. Raza-ur-Rehman finally reached the ropes with a clever scoop shot – the first boundary for 8 overs. The UAE spinners continued to be challenging to hit, but Bagai found gaps with cut and pull shots for boundaries. Raza-ur-Rehman got into the act with consecutive boundaries to end the 16th over. Bagai smashed a six over square leg, and followed it with a tennis shot for four over cover. Raza-ur-Rehman hit two boundaries to make it 18 off four balls. He made 47 from 36 balls before being bowled in the penultimate over. Hansra struck a lovely off-drive for four to keep the scoreboard moving. Bagai went down the wicket and was easily stumped in the final over. Nasir Aziz had Daesrath and Hansra caught in the deep as the innings wound down, but Canada will be pleased with this much improved performance.
Abdul Shakoor got the UAE innings underway with a six off Gordon’s first ball. Mohammad Azam also cleared the ropes in the second over, bowled by Junaid Siddiqui. Gordon tested Abdul Shakoor with the short ball and this time with a more positive result, a catch to mid-on. Azam improved on his earlier six by this time hitting the ball clear out of the ground. Patil got in the act, taking 14 of Cheema’s first over, and UAE had 50 on the board after 6 overs. Azam and Patil then went into cruise mode, pushing easy singles and keeping well ahead of the run-rate. Mohammad Azam was run-out for 33, a nice piece of fielding at point taking advantage of a mix-up between the batsmen. Raza-ur-Rehman came on and had Patil (36) leg-before, attempting an ill-advised reverse sweep. UAE were allowing their run-rate to slip until Rohan Mustafa smashed a six off the previously economical Raza-ur-Rehman. Bagai was convinced he had a catch behind off Cheema, but the umpire disagreed, and Shaiman Anwar finished the game off with a stright six with 8 balls in hand.
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