CPL 2017, Match 11, TKR v BT, Review: Trinbago Knight Riders win top of the table clash

Last night’s top of the table clash between Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Tridents lived up to its billing. It turned out to be a thriller with Trinbago Knight Riders keeping their nerves to win the game with 5 balls to spare. In turn, they also consolidated their position at the top of the table in the CPL.

Trinbago Knight Riders captain, Brendon McCullum won the toss and invited Barbados to bat first. Barbados got off to a horrible start losing 2 wickets in the first 2 overs of the innings. Pakistan batsman Shoaib Malik joined New Zealand captain Kane Williamson at the crease. The two experienced batsman showed their experience and put on 71 runs together for the 3rd wicket.Williamson got out when the scoreboard read 90. Williamson scored 30 runs off 35 balls, before being dismissed.

Williamson got out when the scoreboard read 90. He scored 30 runs off 35 balls, before being dismissed. Shoaib Malik departed shortly after completing his half century. Losing wickets of two set batsmen is never good for the team but they had already built the platform for the likes of Pollard and Pooran.

Barbados captain Pollard never got into the groove and struggled to get any timing. He could only score 14 and used up 22 balls for that. But cameos from Nicholas Pooran (18 off 6 balls) and Akeal Hosein who hit 2 sixes in 3 balls, provided much-needed acceleration to the innings. Barbados Tridents finished their innings at 152 for the loss of 9 wickets.

Barbados’ spin twins Sunil Narine and Shadab did a great job by putting breaks on Trinbago’s innings. Sunil Narine gave away just 17 runs in his 4 overs, while Shadab Khan gave only 20 runs in 4 overs. Ronsford Beaton was the star of Trinbago’s bowling, giving away only 24 runs in 4 overs. He also took 2 wickets including that of the set Shoaib Malik.

The run chase

Barbados Tridents needed to get some early wickets if they wanted to stop star-studded Trinbago Knight Riders. South African all rounder Wayne Parnell gave that start, by picking the wicket of Trinbago’s captain Brendon McCullum in the first over of the innings. Hero of the last match for Trinbago, Colin Munro also struggled and was dismissed by Shoaib Malik. Colin Munro only managed to score 5 runs off 10 balls.

Trinbago Knight Riders seemed to be under pressure when they were 28/2. But then began the Sunil Narine show, who had already shown his credentials with the bat in the Indian Premier League(IPL).  Narine dominated the Barbados bowling scoring 79 runs off just 45 balls. His innings consisted of 6 fours and 5 sixes.

Narine held together the innings even when the wickets kept falling around him. First, he came together with Darren Bravo to build an important 3rd wicket partnership. Then Trinbago lost two quick wickets in succession, Bravo and Denesh Ramdin were dismissed in 3 balls.

Trinbago looked to be in trouble when Dwayne Bravo joined Sunil Narine. Those two built a good partnership together taking their team on the cusp of victory. McCullum’s team looked set to register an easy win when they were 139/4. They just needed 14 runs had 6 wickets in hand.

Mini Collapse

They suffered a collapse when Dwayne Bravo was dismissed by Shamar Springer, who subsequently took wickets of Sunil Narine and Javon Searies. Trinbago went from 139/4 to 151/8, but they had done enough to sneak out the win.

As mentioned Springer was the destructor in chief taking 3 quick wickets and ended with the figures of 3/32. It was a great result for Trinbago who have now won 4 out of their 5 matches and are at the 1st position in the table.

Brief Scores:

Barbados Tridents 152/9 in 20 overs (Shoaib Malik 51, Kane Williamson 30, Ronsford Beaton 2/24)

Trinbago Knight Riders 155/8 in 19.1 overs (Sunil Narine 79, Darren Bravo 23, Shamar Springer 3/32)