Canadian batsman Ravinderpal Singh has broken Ricky Ponting’s long-standing record in T20I. The Canadian cricketer broke former Australian captain’s record of the highest runs in a T20I debut. Ponting had scored 98 in the first twenty-twenty match that was played back in 2005 against New Zealand. Ravinderpal Singh also became the first batsman ever to score a century on debut in a T20I match. Prior to this, David Warner was the only batsman who came close to breaking Ricky Ponting’s record. Warner had scored 89 during his T20I debut against South Africa.
Singh, a right-handed batsman, scored 101 runs off just 48 balls against the Cayman Islands. Singh came out to bat at the number four position after Canada lost early wickets during their innings. This was Canada’s first T20 match since 2014. Cayman Islands had made their debut in international cricket in the T20 format against Bermuda. Singh’s knock helped Canada post a mammoth 196 against the Cayman Islands which turned out to be match-winning for them. The match, held in Sandy’s Parmish in Bermuda, was a qualifier of the ICC T20 World Cup.
During the post-match presentation, Singh described the pitch as difficult wicket to bat on. Singh’s knock was backed by ten sixes and six fours which helped him reach his century. He completed his century with a six and was dismissed on the very next ball.
Ravinderpal Singh was also a part of the Global Canada T20 league. He was a member of Yuvraj Singh led Toronto Nationals but was not in his best during the tournament. Ravinderpal Singh managed to score just 54 runs in the 7 matches that he played. Singh also scored two ducks in consecutive games during the GT20 tournament.
The next T20 World Cup will be held in Australia in February 2020. It will be interesting to see if Canada qualifies for the same.
