Let us take a look at the key highlights of Matches 4 and 5 of the 2021 Germany T20 tri-series that took place on 7 August.
Match 4, Germany v France
Germany 164/3 in 20 overs (Vijayshankar Chikkannaiah 81*; Usman Shahid 1-22) beat France 116/8 in 20 overs (Virk Ali 52*; Sajid Liaqat 3-34) by 48 runs. Player of the Match: Vijayshankar Chikkannaiah.
Germany guaranteed their spot in the final with a comfortable 48-run win over France, in Match 4 of the Germany tri-series 2021, in Krefeld.
Batting first, Vijayshankar Chikkannaiah smashed eight fours and two sixes in an unbeaten 58-ball 81 to take Germany to 164/3. Abdul-Shakoor Rahimzei (23) and Talha Khan (26) also chipped in with useful contributions.
Coming to defend, Sajid Liaqat (3-34) and Ghulam Ahmadi (2-16) restricted France to 116/8. Virk Ali remained unbeaten on 52, but losing wickets regularly from the other end restricted him to get going.
Match 5, Norway v France
Norway 131/8 in 20 overs (Sher Sahak 29; Usman Khan 3-28) beat France 128/8 in 20 overs (Usman Shahid 64; Vinay Ravi 2-23) by 3 runs. Player of the Match: Sher Sahak.
France lost their second game of the day, but did put a valiant effort against Norway in Match 5 at the same venue.
France were chasing a challenging 132. Coming to open, Usman Shahid kept it under control after coming to open. They needed 11 from the final six balls. With Usman on strike. Raza Iqbal (1-18) dismissed Usman (64 of 55) on the first ball to turn the table in their favour. In the end, France only added eight more before closing on 128/8. Vinay Ravi was the pick of the Norway bowlers, with 2-23.
Earlier, Sher Sahak had top-scored with 15-ball 29 in Norway’s 131/8 after Usman won the toss and asked them to bat. Usman Khan (3-28) did the most damage for France, while Rahmatullah Mangal (4-1-24-2) had two wickets to his name.