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Bouncing back from their defeat to South Africa, New Zealand sealed their Super 8 spot, but to do so, they had to overcome an impressive century from Canada opener Yuvraj Singh Samra. Although Canada eventually lost their fizz, the 19-year-old Samra owned the day at Chepauk, where, during the course of his 110, he became the youngest ever batter to score a century in World Cups. His hundred was also the first by a batsman from an Associate nation, which keeps throwing up new stories.
For a brief while, when New Zealand found themselves 30/2 in the chase of 174, Afghanistan would have watched it with plenty of interest. However, Glenn Phillips (76 off 36) and Rachin Ravindra (59 off 39) took them out of the hole and put them into the Super 8’s phase with unbeaten fifties. Their innings, though, was overshadowed by that of Samra, the lone player born and raised in Canada who is part of this squad.
Born to parents with Indian roots, his father, Baljit Samra, had named him after Yuvraj Singh. “I’m not sure exactly what age. I think it was around 11-12 years when I got to know about it. My dad was a really big Yuvraj Singh fan. He followed his cricketing journey throughout, and he told my mom ‘if it is a boy he wants to name Yuvraj no matter what. And he named me that,” Samra told Cricket Canada.
Batting left-handed like his idol, he prefers to go straight and through the covers and mid-wicket. As the New Zealand attack, sans Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Santner, struggled to hit the right lines, Samra feasted on it.
In the first over, he jumped out of his crease to hit pacer Matt Henry over covers that set the tone. Thereafter, it was as if Samra transcended himself to the place where he wanted to be, and as he walked back got a standing ovation from nearly 16,000 fans at the venue.
“I was just really grateful, like, every day I manifested this moment that I want to score a 100 in the World Cup as the youngest player in the T20 World Cup. I feel like I enjoyed the whole innings. I feel like I just went my way today and I felt great,” Samra said.
Dream come true
Like Yuvraj, Samra is tall and bats left-handed. (PTI Photo)
Since Canada booked their spot in the T20 World Cup, Samra has been dreaming of scoring a century. Having already established himself in the team, he doesn’t want to restrict himself to the limited opportunities he gets with the Canadian outfit. Instead, he has his eyes firmly on T20 franchises and coming into the T20 World Cup, he wanted to use the tournament as an audition of sorts.
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“In Canada, it’s not that easy because we only get three months to play. It’s like minus-25, minus-30 weather, so it’s really hard. We try to come to Sri Lanka, the countries that have good weather, and it’s really hard playing cricket there. I feel like this innings could change my life, and I can actually make a good living out of this sport, especially being from Canada, and I feel like it can be a real dream come true,” Samra said.
Going by the innings, there are good reasons for Samra to be hopeful. With the Global T20 league becoming a regular fixture in Canada, and the likes of MLC, SA20 and European T20 around, where opportunities have opened up for Associate cricketers, Samra has shown the game that can position him in leagues. Apart from taking down the Kiwi pacers, he was severe against the spinners, in particular Cole McConchie and the two medium-pacers Kyle Jamieson and Jimmy Neesham. In each of his 11 boundaries and three sixes, what stood out was the bat-swing.
“I feel like it came naturally to me, a natural swing. I feel like my dad helped me a lot in my batting as well. I feel like in my cricket journey, my dad plays the biggest role. I really wish he was here watching this game, but all the credit goes to my dad. And credit to all the coaches as well,” he said.
Samra aside, there was very little contribution from the rest of Canada’s batsmen. Captain Dilpreet Singh, who put on 116 runs for the opening wicket with Samra, struggled to up the ante, labouring on to 36 off 39. The rest merely tried to hand the strike to Samra, who held the innings together before falling in the last over.
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Having booked their Super 8 spot, New Zealand will head to Colombo, where they will be based for the duration of the next round.
Brief Scores: Canada 173/4 in 20 overs (Yuvraj Singh Samra 110) lost to New Zealand 176/2 in 15.1 overs (Glenn Phillips 76 not out, Rachin Ravindra 59 not out) by 8 wickets.
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