Montreal Tigers vs Vancouver Knights, GBLT20, Today Match Prediction

MOT vs VAK Match Prediction & Analysis

Defending champions Montreal Tigers look to keep their unbeaten streak rolling as they take on the bottom-placed Vancouver Knights on Sunday. Thanks to a blistering 55 ball 100 from Dilpreet Bajwa, the Montreal Tigers registered their third straight victory of this season.

The dashing batsman, who is also the leading run scorer in the tournament, was in fine nick against Toronto striking three sixes before rain stopped play. It’s an important game for Vancouver as they have a one-game lead on the Montreal Tigers, and they still haven’t been able to record their first victory of this season yet.

While Montreal has found its groove over the past few weeks with 3 wins from 4 games including a no result, Vancouver have a steep hill to climb with 0 wins from 5 games. Sitting on top of the table, Montreal will come into this game with their tails up, having beaten Vancouver on three occasions in the past five meetings.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Montreal Tigers Preview

Montreal Tigers have been a batting powerhouse, true to their billing. With the likes of international stars like Chris Lynn, Tim Seifert, Sherfane Rutherford, and homegrown talent like Dilpreet Bajwa in their starting XI, they have scored plenty of runs in two of their three completed games- including a 189 against Bangla Tigers and 166 against Brampton.

Ashton Agar, the Aussie left armer from Perth, put up a man of the match performance in one of the matches scoring a useful 40 opening the batting and picking up two wickets to dent the opposition chasing.

On the bowling front, the UAE bowler Aayan Afzal Khan has been extremely impressive, picking 3 wickets in one game and 4 wickets in another. Afghan pacer Azmatullah Omarzai got the bowl to nip around during his opening spell against Brampton Wolves, finishing with 4 for 21 from his 4 overs.

Different players have stood up and delivered impactful performances with the bat and ball for Montreal Tigers, and with the business end of the league fast approaching, Tigers will be looking to up the ante.

Montreal Tigers Predicted Playing XI:

Chris Lynn(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Azmatullah Omarzai, Corbin Bosch, Tim Seifert(w), Gerhard Erasmus, Aayan Afzal Khan, Zahoor Khan, Kaleem Sana, Dilpreet Bajwa, Parveen Kumar

Montreal Tigers Actual Playing XI:

Chris Lynn, Aayan Khan, Dilpreet Bajwa, Kaleem Sana, Zahoor Khan, Gerhard Erasmus, Sherfane Rutherford, Azmatullah Omarzai, Tim Seifert, Parveen Kumar, Corbin Bosch

Vancouver Knights Preview

Vancouver Knights horrible run in this year’s competition continues. Having played five games so far, they have yet to open their account. Currently sitting at the bottom and on the brink of elimination, Vancouver Knights are now having to face the top-ranked Montreal side who’re at the top of their game.

Their batting unit started off poorly but has been gradually making progress making bigger scores with each match. Their best effort with the bat in this year’s competition saw them collect 149 runs against Brampton, and they need to pull their socks up and start scoring more runs to give their bowling unit a real chance to defend totals.

Captain Usman Khawaja’s form with the bat- only 1 double digit score in 4 appearances- is a fair reflection of his team’s struggles with the bat. The inclusion of Scottish player Richie Berrington and former Pakistan international Asif Ali has strengthened the middle order, though.

Bowling-wise, Vancouver have performed decently well, with Dwaine Pretorious and Sandeep Lamichhane the standout performers in most of their games so far. Mohammed Amir and Paul Van Meekeren haven’t been as incisive as they’d have liked, and it has hurt their ability to take wickets and make breakthroughs.

Vancouver Knights Predicted Playing XI:

Munir Ahmad(w), Usman Khawaja(c), Reeza Hendricks, Harsh Thaker, Richie Berrington, Asif Ali, Dwaine Pretorius, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohammad Amir, Rishiv Ragav Joshi

Vancouver Knights Actual Playing XI:

Asif Ali, Dipendra Singh Airee, Rishiv Joshi, Harsh Thaker, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mohammad Amir, Dwaine Pretorius, Reeza Hendricks, Usman Khawaja, Munir Ahmad, Richie Berrington

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch has been good to bat when it’s fresh however run making has been a little difficult as the game goes on. Teams batting first have registered the top 3 high scores in this year’s competition. Any score above 170 in the first innings should be really competitive as the pitch tends to slow down a touch in the second innings. The forecast suggests that rain might play spoilsport during the match, and if it holds good it needs to be seen how quickly the play will resume after the rain delay.

MOT vs VAK Pitch Report

The match will be played at the CAA centre in Brampton. Both these teams met each other here thrice, with Montreal registering two wins including the one in Qualifier2.

Toss: To Bat

Teams batting first have gone on to win 7 out of 12 completed matches so far in the tournament, so there’s a definite advantage to batting first. And both captains will want to capitalize on that: win toss, bat first and put a huge score on board would be the way to go.