The Biggest Carnival of Caribbean - CPL 2015: Preview

The Biggest Carnival of Caribbean – CPL 2015: Preview: The Caribbean islands are set for the T20 carnival in the form of Caribbean Premier League (CPL), as the 3rd season of the league is set to take off this Saturday. The tournament will witness the islands which produced the biggest starts of Twenty20 format along with International stars and local talents to put on some real good performances. Here we look at preview of the CPL 2015 along with each teams’ chances at the title.

The first match of the tournament will be played between Barbados Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors, the previous season’s finalists on 20th June at Kensington Oval. The round robin league stage will be played for 30 games with each team plays the other 5 teams at home and away. The final league match will be played on 21st July between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel at Guyana.

The league directly makes it to final whereas the 3rd and 4th finishing teams will face off in 1st playoff on 23rd July with loser of the game will be eliminated and the winner gets a chance to play with 2nd placed team in 2nd playoff on 25th. The winner of the 2nd playoff gets a chance to play in finals against the top positioned team on 26th July. All the knockout games are scheduled to play at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

This season’s CPL got a special attraction as the Indian company ‘HERO’ will be the title sponsors and few Bollywood and Hollywood stars owning teams of the league. However, the viewership of the tournament might be gradually lower due to its zone timings which might affect its audience from India who might not spend staying up late. However, the CPL has not only attracted Caribbean islands but also the richer countries like USA, which aren’t even among the associate nations in Cricket which will be great factor for the league improvement.

Teams’ preview:

Barbados Tridents:

The defending champions Barbados Trident will be keeping up their hopes on defending their title with the likes of Pollard, Malik, Holder, Smith, Rampaul and other good players. The team’s captain Pollard showed his smart skills in captaincy which once again has to be spot on, if team is set to succeed yet again.

Key Players: Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, Jason Holder, Ravi Rampaul.

Squad: Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Smith, Ravi Rampaul, Jason Holder, Rayad Emrit, Dilshan Munaweera, Jonathan Carter, Justin Ontong, Ashley Nurse, Robin Peterson, Akeal Hosein, Navin Stewart, Shai Hope, Kyle Corbin.

Guyana Amazon Warriors:

The Guyana Amazon Warriors are not only the runners up of the previous but also the runners of the inaugural season of CPL. They have been the most balanced team in the league but failed to cross the finals barrier. Yet again they are looking to put on a good show and at least this time hoping to cross the finals. With likes of Simmons, who is at his prime form in the format along with Malinga and Narine, Guyana are to be called the favorites. Guyana will be having a new captain in form of Sunil Narine but experience of Chanderpaul, Hodge and Dilshan might not make him feel alone.

Key Players: Lendl Simmons, Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine, Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Squad: Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin, Christopher Barnwell, Lasith Malinga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thisara Perera, Brad Hodge, Veerasammy Permaul, Ronsford Beaton, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Devendra Bishoo, Trevor Griffith, Assad Fudadin, Paul Wintz

Jamaica Tallawahs:

Likes of Andre Russell, Chris Gayle with the bat and Santokie, Taylor and Vettori with the ball, Jamaica Tallawahs can be one team that might break record in Twenty20 during the league. With Gayle who is coming from a brilliant T20 tours in India and England can hopefully lead Jamaica to its second title.

Key Players: Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Jerome Taylor, Krishmar Santokie.

Squad: Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Jerome Taylor, Chadwick Walton, Mahela Jayawardene, Chris Lynn, Daniel Vettori, Nikita Miller, Krishmar Santokie, Rusty Theron, Narsingh Deonarine, David Bernard jr., Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Horace Miller

Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel:

The Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel will be having new refreshment with the Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and its partners in IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders have bought the CPL side. The T&T Red steel who finished 3rd in last season will hope to do better under Dwayne Bravo with likes of brother Bravo, Kallis, Badree, Cummins and few other T20 stars.

Key Players: Dwayne Bravo, Samuel Badree, Jacques Kallis, Miguel Cummins.

Squad: Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Samuel Badree, Kevon Cooper, Jacques Kallis, Johan Botha, Kamran Akmal, Cameron Delport, Sulieman Benn, Jason Mohammad, Marlon Richards, Miguel Cummins, Javon Searles, William Perkins, Derone Davis

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots:

St Kitts and Nevis Patriots is set to take part for the first time in the league after Antigua Hawksbills got scrapped. They will be hoping to impress in its first season with scrapped team’s captain Marlon Samuels with be leading St Kitts and Nevis as well. With the likes of Afridi, Tanvir, Guptill and Cottrell they could hope to perform better than excluded team Antigua, who could manage to win just 3 games in 16 games in last 2 seasons.

Key Players: Marlon Samuels, Shahid Afridi, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis.

Squad: Carlos Brathwaite, Devon Thomas, Orlando Peters, Justin Athanaze, Shahid Afridi, Marlon Samuels, Sohail Tanvir, Sheldon Cottrell, Martin Guptill, Ewin Lewis, Raymond Reifer, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tonito Willett, Nicolas Pooran, Jacques Taylor

St Lucia Zouks:

Probably, the team that has underperformed so far in the league was St Lucia Zouks. They could managed only 4 wins in 16 games they played in CPL, one more than Antigua Hawksbills who were scrapped. With addition of players like Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, Shakib Al Hasan and presence of Henry Davids, Fidel Edwards and the captain Darren Sammy, they can well record their best performance in the league for sure.

Key Players: Darren Sammy, Kevin Pietersen, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Fletcher.

Squad: Darren Sammy, Kevin Pietersen, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Ross Taylor, Shakib Al Hasan, Shannon Gabriel, Henry Davids, Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach, Shane Shillingford, Kyle Mayers, Keddy Lesporis, Liam Sebastien, Delorn Johnson

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