Global T20 Canada: All you need to know about Montreal Tigers

The Global T20 Canada, which is the international T20 league held in Canada, begins its inaugural season today. It is a matter of great relevance that countries like Canada are popping up in the World map for cricket, and events like these will definitely help in the development of the game in those places.

The league is contested by the Windies B team and five main Canada-based city teams - namely the Edmonton Royals, Montreal Tigers, Toronto Nationals, Vancouver Knights and Winnipeg Hawks. Almost 1600 players participated in the players' draft that was conducted on June 3, 2018, out of which nearly 600 were Canadians. In the end 96 players were selected to play for the six teams, 16 players apiece. The tournament will also feature marquee players Shahid Afridi, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Steve Smith, Chris Lynn, Lasith Malinga, David Miller, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy.

The Montreal Tigers are one of the principal sides in the T20 league. Coached by Tom Moody, the team has a good set of players which can definitely go all the way and take a direct shot at the title. In the upcoming slides, we shall get familiar with Montreal Tigers, the squad, their chances and more.

General Overview

The Montreal Tigers is one of the six teams in the Global T20 League Canada. It is coached by Tom Moody and is captained by Lasith Malinga, who is also their icon player.

Tom Moody is the current coach of Indian Premier League(IPL) side Sunrisers Hyderabad, who were runners-up in the recently concluded season. He has also achieved his share of successes with the Sri Lankan cricket team, leading them to the 2007 Cricket World Cup finals.

Lasith Malinga was the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team that won the 2014 Edition of the T20I World Cup, defeating India in the finals.

Team Schedule

The following is the team schedule for Montreal Tigers in the Global T20 Canada 2018:

#1. June 29, Friday, 4pm local, 1:30am IST: vs Winnipeg Hawks, 2nd match, Round 1

#2. June 30, Saturday, 4pm local, 1:30am IST: vs Windies B, 4th match, Round 1

#3. July 2, Monday, 4pm local, 1:30am IST: vs Vancouver Knights, 8th match, Round 1

#4. July 4, Wednesday, 4pm local, 1:30am IST: vs Edmonton Royals, 9th match, Round 1

#5. July 8, Friday, 4pm local, 1:30am IST: vs Toronto Nationals, 15th match, Round 1

All matches will take place at the Maple Leaf North-West Ground, King City, Ontario province.

Squad

Sunil Narine

1. Lasith Malinga (captain)The Montreal Tigers' squad is as follows:

2. Sunil Narine

3. Thisara Perera

4. Mohammad Hafeez

5. Denesh Ramdin (wicket-keeper)

6. Sandeep Lamichhane

7. Sikandar Raza

8. Dasun Shanaka

9. Isuru Udana

10. George Worker

11. Najibullah Zadran

12. Cecil Pervez

13. Ibrahim Khaleel

14. Dillon Heyliger

15. Nicholas Kirton

16. Rayyan Pathan

Strengths and Weaknesses

Mohammad Hafeez will be a key part of their plans

Montreal has a good bowling line-up in captain Malinga and youngsters Dasun Shanaka and Sandeep Lamichhane. Playing for the Delhi Daredevils (DD), Lamichhane has been one of the key finds from this season's Indian Premier League (IPL), where he played only three matches, yet made his mark with a well-orchestrated performance against Mumbai Indians(MI) in the final match of the group stages.

Apart from the presence of these mainstream bowlers, all-rounders like Thisara Perera, Sikandar Raza, Mohammad Hafeez and most importantly, Sunil Narine will also take charge of bowling in key situations. The depth in bowling will be something that will help Montreal make an impact in the league.

That being said, the absence of any prominent name in their batting, could be highlighted as the key weakness of the team. Except for Najibullah Zadran of Afghanistan, there is no proper batsman of international experience in the squad. Zadran, along with Hafeez, Narine and Perera will have to score consistently and also in big numbers to make sure that they stay safe in the tournament. Expectations will also mount on wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin, who will have to double up on his wicket-keeping duties to perform with the bat.

Prediction

Tom Moody

Though the team is capable of wins, One cannot be really sure if the team will go all the way. At the end of round 1, the team can be expected to finish in the bottom three, making them having to play a top-three team in round 2.

That being said, it can always depend on how Montreal plays on a particular day because the tournament format as such is not the kind we usually see. The team has some star names, and they must perform if Montreal has to travel a good distance in the tournament.