Twitter Reactions: Chadwick Walton and Rassie van der Dussen make the chase a cakewalk for the Knights

The opening contest between the Toronto Nationals and Vancouver Knights got more one-sided than expected. Yuvraj Singh and his men were asked to bat first in this match by Chris Gayle. However, most of them struggled to time the ball well. In the second innings, a fabulous partnership from Chadwick Walton and Rassie van der Dussen saw the Knights through.

Toronto Nationals lost the wicket of Brendon McCullum early in the innings for just 4 runs. Callum MacLeod, after scoring 17 runs off 23 balls, perished to S Zafar. At this stage, the onus was on Rodrigo Thomas and Yuvraj Singh. However, the Indian veteran struggled to middle the ball. His knock in this game reminded the fans of the final in the T20 World Cup 2014 where he was left in tatters.

After crawling his way to 14 runs from 27 balls, he was stumped out. Even though Yuvi wasn’t out, he thought otherwise and decided to walk off which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for his team. After Thomas got out for 41, Heinrich Klaasen and Kieron Pollard accelerated towards the end. While the wicket-keeper batsman scored 41 runs from just 20 balls, the Caribbean big hitter raced to 30 from just 13 balls. This catapulted Nationals’ score to 159/5 in 20 overs.

Rassie van der Dussen and Chadwick Walton put their class on display

The pitch seemed to have got better as the innings progressed. With Yuvraj Singh consuming up quite a few deliveries, the Nationals didn’t have enough target to defend. Yet, they did well to dismiss Chris Gayle and Tobias Visee early in the innings. But, they failed to capitalise as it was all about the domination from Rassie van der Dussen and Chadwick Walton later on.

Both these men together put up an unbeaten 126-run partnership. They didn’t give the opposition any changes and remained unbeaten on 65 and 59 respectively. Twitterati seemed to be elated with the way these two players. Also, the fans were absolutely disappointed with Yuvi’s performance in his first game after retirement. They also seemed to have enjoyed the heroics from Kieron Pollard and Heinrich Klaasen and applauded the two players.

Here is how Twitterati reacted:

Toronto Nationals scored 52 runs in 43 balls when Yuvraj Singh was batting.
Toronto Nationals scored 55 runs in 22 balls since Yuvraj Singh’s dismissal.@Yograjsingh any comments?#GT2019

— . (@_cleanbowled) July 26, 2019

Yuvraj Singh’s bad form continues with 14(27) at #GT20Canada.

— Akhil Agrawal (@agrawalakhil) July 26, 2019

Yuvraj Singh tried very hard to match the calibre of Cheteshwar Pujara. 14 of 27 in his inaugural #GT20Canada match.

— मनीष मृगम | мαηιsн (@ManishMrigam) July 25, 2019

Toronto Nationals scored 55 runs in the 22 balls since Yuvraj Singh’s dismissal.

— Clive (@vanillawallah) July 25, 2019

Yuvraj Singh just retire that’s embarrasing #GlobalT20

— P. Chatzikonstantis (@pchatziko) July 25, 2019

Yuvraj struggled in his first innings, looked rusty and it seems he picked up a bit of a back injury while batting. His strike rate was under 52 after facing 27 balls. Hoping he picks up some form as the tournament progresses. #GT2019 #GT20Canada #YuvrajSingh

— Mustafa Ismail (@MustiMachine) July 25, 2019

So Yuvraj Singh is stumped very weirdly, the ball bounced off the keeper and hit the stumps. His foot was inside at the point of impact with the stumps. He is not out, but he walks anyway. So in comes Keiron Pollard.

— Clive (@vanillawallah) July 25, 2019

Kahaan gaya woh pehle wala Yuvraj Singh?????#TNVSVK #GT2019

— υ∂αү (@imuday02) July 25, 2019

Heinrich ‘Class’en while Yuvraj Singh a pale shadow of his former self. #GT2019 #GT20

— S. Sudarshanan (@Sudarshanan7) July 25, 2019

Yuvraj Singh already played 26 deliveries but didn’t hit any boundary..

Is this @YUVSTRONG12#GT2019 #Yuvraj #GT20Canada

— Rohit Sharma FC ???????? (@Ro45FC) July 25, 2019