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Canada are taking on Ireland in the 13th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The game is being held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York. Irish captain Paul Stirling won the toss and chose to field first. The selection for today’s match saw the absence of one player from each side.
Ben White and Nikhil Dutta miss out
Ireland spinner Ben White was not included in the playing XI for the today’s clash. Notably, White has a decent experience of the shortest format with 30 games under his belt, in which he has taken 31 wickets. Similarly, Canada opted to drop Nikhil Dutta from their final XI. The off-beak bowler has appeared in 25 T20Is for the Canadian side, taking 25 scalps.
Reason behind the absence of White and Dutta
Ireland skipper Paul revealed that White, the leg spinner, was not included in the final XI due to the requirement of the team combination. He reckoned that they have added an extra seamer in the form of Craig Young considering the conditions of the pitch.
“We’re going to bowl first today. It’s must win from here on. It’s changed a lot since two days ago (talking about pitch). Looks like maybe there will be slightly less lateral movement. Has to be communication between keeper and bowler in the first couple of overs (about how the pitch is playing). Ben White goes out. We’ve taken an extra seamer (Craig Young) for the spinner,” said Paul during the toss.
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Canadian captain Saad Bin Zafar reckoned that he would have opted to ball first as well. Zafar cited USA’s recent historic win over Pakistan stating that they can also beat Ireland to cause another upset in the global event. Speaking about the change, Zafar didn’t specifically revealed the reason behind Dutta’s absence but inclusion of Junaid Siddiqui somehow gave an apprehension that they wanted a leggie who can bat as Siddiqui is a leg-break all-rounder.
“Would’ve bowled first as well. If we can put decent runs on the board, will not be easy to change. It’s always good to see an associate country to beat a full member country. Hopefully what USA did to Pakistan, we can do to Ireland. If you play your A game on the day, you can beat anyone. One change – Nikhil Dutta goes out, Junaid Siddiqui comes in,” said Zafar.
Playing XIs of both sides:
- Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva(w), Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar(c), Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon
- Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling(c), Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Craig Young
