I’m sure no one has forgotten the recent Global T20 Canada tournament, where Vancouver Knights beat the West Indies B team in the final on 15th July 2018. The winners, for sure, are still hungover from that win, where they recovered from 22/3 to chase down the target of 146 and lift the inaugural GT20 Canada trophy – a moment that will go down in cricketing history.
Ideally, there would be a lot of pressure when playing in the final of the first ever professional cricket league in North America. However, a man named Saad Bin Zafar stayed calm as a cucumber in the final, contributing with bat and ball both, and taking his team over the line. He picked up 2/26 with the ball and then scored a marvellous 79* that helped the Knights win the title.
Read Scoops is dedicated to always bringing you the best content from around the world. So, we decided to go ahead and schedule an exclusive interview with Saad Bin Zafar of the Vancouver Knights, who won the Man of the Match award in that final. Keep reading for more…
Saad Bin Zafar social profiles ?:
Zafar is a Pakistani-born Canadian cricketer, who bats and bowls left-handed and first donned the national team colours over a decade back. The 31-year old was a part of the Vancouver Knights squad that played under Chris Gayle at the inaugural GT20 Canada. He made his chance count, by announcing himself as a vital member of the squad and performing whenever his team needed him to. He had a total of 8 wickets and 92 runs in the series, of which 79* came in the final.
We asked Zafar what it felt like to be playing a professional T20 league in Canada, a country that hasn’t had enough of exposure at the biggest stage. He said, “I am Canadian, so it was very pleasing to see such a tournament taking place in your own backyard, with all the international stars taking part.”
Q. How was the experience playing under the captaincy of the Universe Boss, Chris Gayle?
“Playing under Chris was a priceless experience. The most important thing I learnt was how he keeps himself calm and composed even in pressure situations. He doesn’t lose his temper or panic if things aren’t going our way during the course of the game. He stays positive and also gives his team confidence and self belief that they are good enough to come out of a pressure situation and win the game.”
Surely, they kept calm in the final. CHAMPIONS!
On behalf of the entire team of Read Scoops, I would like to say thank you to Saad Bin Zafar for taking the time out to talk to us and give us some insights into his experience at the 2018 GT20 Canada. I would also like to wish him the best of luck for the future, and hope to see him in bigger T20 leagues and even playing for Canada in major tournaments.
– Dwayne Fernandes, Read Scoops
(Twitter – @dwayneeeboy, Instagram – @dwayneeeboy)
Complete cricketing interviews:
- Shreyas Iyer ??
- Sikandar Raza ??
- Hamza Tariq ??
- Uzayr Raja (IBB) ???????/??
- Atiq uz Zaman ??
- Safyaan Sharif ???????
- Srimantha Wijeyeratne ??/??
