Captain Navneet Dhaliwal's half-century helped Canada to their first win over USA since March 2023, snapping a nine-match winless streak against their cross-border rival. 

File photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Canada captain Navneet Dhaliwal’s 68 off 41 balls helped his side break a nine-match winless streak against USA as the border rivals to the north took down the Americans by 17 runs to round out the group stage at the 2025 North American T20 Cup on Thursday in Grand Cayman. Dhaliwal top-scored in his side’s total of 184 for 7 before a series of batting stumbles by the red, white and blue saw them end on 167 for 8 in their 20 overs. The result was Canada’s first win in any format over USA since March 2023 at the ICC World Cup Qualifier Playoff in Namibia, and their first T20I win over USA since the 2019 ICC Americas T20 World Cup Qualifier Regional Final in Bermuda. 
 
Canada won the toss and chose to bat first with Dhaliwal getting off to a rocky start running between the wickets leading to the first Canada wicket. An attempted tap and run single between Ali Nadeem and Dhaliwal to start the third over resulted in Ali Sheikh charging in from backward point and firing a one-bounce direct hit at the non-striker’s end to send off Nadeem for 8 making it 18 for 1. 
 
Dhaliwal shook off any nerves from the runout though and went on to forge two solid partnerships, first teaming with Yuvraj Samra to add 48 runs for the second wicket. Samra was the aggressor during the partnership and made 28 before he chipped legspinner Yasir Mohammad to Sanjay Krishnamurthi at long-off to make it 66 for 2 in the eighth. Shreyas Movva made 23 out of a 40-run stand alongside Dhaliwal for the third wicket before he fell on the final ball of the 12^th, miscuing a reverse sweep against Mohammad that floated gently to Jessy Singh at backward point to make it 106 for 3 after 12. 
 
Dhaliwal brought up his half-century off 32 balls with a single to the cover sweeper in the 13^th and two overs later, both he and notorious USA destroyer Harsh Thaker decided to launch a momentum-shifting assault on USA’s spinners. Thaker attacked first, going after Mohammad with a heave for six over long-on to start the 15^th. Mohammad tried to zip in a quicker ball that strayed down the leg side and was easily swept for four before Thaker once again launched him over long-on for another six. On the fourth ball of the over, Thaker tried to go slightly wider over midwicket but a mishit was skied to Ali Sheikh who took a catch in stride running to his left along the boundary to dismiss Thaker for 21 off 9 balls making it 139 for 4. 
 
Dhaliwal went after offspinner Akhilesh Bodugum in the following over, clobbering a pair of slog sweeps high and deep over midwicket for back-to-back sixes to put Canada in command. He fell off the first ball of the 17^th, driving Jessy flat to Milind Kumar at long-off to make it 156 for 5 with 23 balls to go. 
 
From there, USA’s death bowlers contained Canada to just 28 off the final four overs, but the earlier damage against the spinners was significant in the final margin. Saurabh Netravalkar struck twice at the death to help pin down Canada’s middle order and keep USA in the match. The left-hander claimed Jaskaran Singh to start the 18^th with a full ball driven to Sai Mukkamalla at long-off for 3 before Ravinderpal Singh was claimed for 9 on the first ball of the final over when a mishit went softly to Monank Patel at extra cover in the ring to make it 178 for 8. Six runs were taken off the final five balls to take Canada to their final total. 
 
Mohammad ended with 3 for 39 to lead USA with the ball while Netravalkar ended with 2 for 38. Jessy Singh was USA’s most economical bowler on the day, finishing with 0 for 25 off his four overs. Sheikh and Bodugum were both expensive, conceding 0 for 42 and 0 for 40 respectively with their left and right-arm fingerspin. 
 
USA’s chase got off to a promising start once again behind Mukkamalla as he teamed with Shayan Jahangir for a 39-run opening stand across the first 20 balls. But Mukkamalla fell for 11 to a sensational catch from Ravinderpal, who took an over the shoulder sliding catch at mid-on while running back to a skied drive off the bowling of Thaker. Jahangir could not convert a solid start, reaching 26 off 16 before he picked out Akhil Kumar at deep midwicket off Thaker, one of only two men on the boundary in the Powerplay, to make it 56 for 2 in the sixth. 
 
Despite a strong early pace, USA stalled badly with the wicket of Jahangir as they went through a sequence of 24 balls without a boundary. That included the runout of captain Monank Patel in a dreadful mixup with Milind Kumar. Milind was on strike for the first ball of the seventh over bowled by left-arm spinner Sukhjinder Singh and tapped a full delivery into the covers before setting off for a single. Monank responded at the non-striker’s end and committed to the run before Milind changed his mind and returned to his crease after seeing Akhil Kumar attack the ball from the edge of the ring. Monank was already more than halfway to the striker’s end and had no realistic chance to go back, resulting in an easy flick from Akhil to Sukhjinder, who took the bails off as Monank and Milind argued with each other over who was at fault. Regardless of whoever was to blame, Monank was out for 15 and the scoreboard read 59 for 3. 
 
Milind proceeded to get stuck in a rut, exacerbated by the notoriously slow start of incoming batter Aaron Jones and before long USA was behind the required scoring rate before the 24-ball boundary-free streak was broken in the ninth over by Jones, who charged former captain Saad Bin Zafar and slammed a straight six over long-on. However, that proved to be his only boundary before he was removed for 17 off 13 balls by Jaskaran’s medium pace in the 12^th when Jones played back to a length ball and was given lbw to make it 99 for 4. 
 
After the highlight reel catch to kick things off for Canada in the field, another sign that it was their day came in the 14^th when Milind fell for 32 tickling a leg-stump half-volley down the leg side to give Akhil Kumar a wicket at 121 for 5. Krishnamurthi fell for 24 in the 17^th, flicking Kaleem Sana’s left-arm pace from around the wicket to deep midwicket to make it 149 for 6. The door was left ajar on the first ball of the 18^th over when Sukhjinder was called for a no-ball, leaving USA needing 33 off 18 balls to win. 
 
But Sheikh could manage just a single off the free hit and USA failed to score a boundary off the rest of the over, which culminated in Jessy falling for 3 after his attempted leg-side slog to a full delivery wound up ricocheting off his pads and trickling into the base of leg stump with enough force to knock off one bail making it 157 for 7. Sheikh then fell off the first ball of the 18^th, cramped for room trying to cut a short ball from Sana only to edge behind for 17 to make it 157 for 8. 
 
With 28 needed off 11 balls and only the tail left to bat, USA managed to scratch out just 10 more runs as Sana and Jaskaran continued to keep USA’s lower-order in check. Netravalkar finished 8 not out off 7 balls while Mohammad ended on 2 not out off 4 deliveries. 
 
Sana ended with 2 for 35 off four overs while Jaskaran claimed 2 for 34 in his four. Thaker only bowled two overs of offspin in the second innings, but they had a tremendous impact on the match as his 2 for 8 in the Powerplay turned the tide toward Canada in the field. Akhil Kumar took 1 for 37 in his four overs. Saad was Canada’s least economical bowler on the day, conceding 0 for 20 off his two overs. Sukhjinder gave away 0 for 30 off his four overs of left-arm spin. 
 
The result means Canada will be paired up with Cayman Islands in the semi-finals after the hosts walloped Bahamas by 79 runs on Thursday to avoid the wooden spoon and finish in fourth place on the table. USA will face third-place Bermuda in the second semi-final which will begin on Saturday at 3:30 pm EST in the USA.