Dipendra Singh Airee Crowned GT20 2023 Champions
Nepal's star allrounder Dipendra Singh Airee has won the title of Global T20 2023 in Canada in his debut international franchise league with Montreal Tigers.
Montreal Tigers beat Surrey Jaguars by 5 wickets in the final. Nepal's another star Sandeep Lamichhane was playing as the opponent to Dipendra in the final. Both of them had an average performance in the match.
Dipendra Singh Airee is the second player to win the GT20 in Canada. In the last edition, Nepal's pacer Sompal Kami won the league with Winnipeg Hawks.
Match Summary
After winning the toss, Montreal Tigers elected to bowl first and invited in-form Surrey Jaguars into batting. The Jaguars started slow and ended slow. They posted an average score of 130 runs on the board with 5 wickets still in hand.
Oman's Jatindar Singh top scored with 56 runs from 57 balls and remained not out. Ayaan Khan was aggresive as he made 26 runs from just 15 balls with 2 sixes.
Sandeep didn't bat in the first inning and Dipendra didn't got chance to bowl in the inning.
In the second inning, both Nepali players were on action. Sandeep Lamichhane remained wicketless in his 3 overs and gave away 20 runs.
Dipendra Singh Airee made 16 runs from 17 balls and was quite slow in chasing. Needing 30 runs from 2 overs, Montreal Tigers' skipper Chris Lynn made a bold decision to retire out Dipendra and send in the hitter Andre Russel.
The tactical apporach worked as Russel hit the winning runs and scored 20 runs off just 6 balls. Sherfane Rutherford also contributed 38 runs from 29 balls.
Most Valuable Player: Montreal Tigers' Sherfane Rutherford was adjusted the Most Valuable Player after his winnign knocks in all the play off matches. He made 220 runs with strike rate of 130.17.
Highest Run Scorer: Montreal Tigers skipper Chris Lynn become the highest run scorer in the third edition of GT20 Canada. He made 234 runs with 2 fifties.
Highest Wicket Taker: Surrey Jaguars' Mathew Forde become the highest wicket taker in the tournament with 15 wickets.
Nepali Player's Performance
Sandeep Lamichhane: Sandeep Lamichhane has been brilliant with the ball in the entire tournament. He grabbed 11 wickets with economy rate of slightly above 5 runs per over. However, he couldn't perform well in the final and was defeated by the Montreal Tigers.
Dipendra Singh Airee: Playing his first ever international franchise league, Dipendra had had a memorable outing. He was consistent with the bat in the entire tournament. In his 6 innings, he made 20 plus score in 5 matches and was retired out in the final after making 16 runs. He also grabbed 2 wickets in the tournament.