India proved too strong for Pakistan when the two teams faced off in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final held at Spotless Stadium, in a curtain raiser to the Sydney Thunder vs Perth Scorches fixture. The win for India sees their nationality etched alongside South Africa and Nepal on the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup and continues the trend of a different champion each year.

It was looking like rain might delay the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final, however, the skies cleared in time for both teams to take to the field. After dominating with the bat throughout the tournament, it was no surprise that India elected to bat first after winning the toss. India’s captain and opening batsman Ghagan Dhillon set the tone early and scored a team high 20 runs to lead his team to a strong total of 4/72 runs after their 7 overs.

Needing 73 runs to win, Pakistan struggled early with some very impressive bowling from the Indian openers resulting in a slow start for the chasing team. The Pakistani batsmen struggled to gain any form of momentum and when Indian bowler Vikasdeep Pal took two wickets in consecutive balls in the 6^th over, the result was inevitable. Pakistan finished their 7 overs with a total of 57 runs, resulting in a 15 run victory for India.

Sydney Thunder General Manager, Nick Cummins, was thrilled for the Indian team and the success of the third instalment of the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup.

“Each year, the talent on display in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup improves and it was great to see such a high quality match this evening”, said Nick Cummins.

“The Indian community has been strongly represented each year in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup and so are well-deserved champions”.

“The MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup is a community initiative first and foremost and to see the continued enthusiasm is something we are delighted about and I am looking forward to seeing the tournament grow again next year and unearthing more of Western Sydney’s talent”, Nick Cummins added.

The win for India sees the third instalment of the Sydney Thunder hosted tournament come to a close, with this year seeing more team registrations than ever before with sixty-five teams battling it out over a three month period.

“Huge congratulations to team India on defeating Pakistan to be crowned MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Champions”, said Michael Minassian,  MoneyGram’s Senior Regional Director.

“MoneyGram has been a proud sponsor of the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup for the past two seasons. It provides us with an opportunity to engage with Western Sydney communities and those demographics that are a key focus for our money transfer business”, Michael was quoted as saying.