An outstanding century by Nicholas Pooran helps his team to get a great total, and then Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) defend the total by defeating Barbados Royals (BR) by 42 runs.
After batting first TKR scored 208/6 in 20 overs and BR only managed to score 166/7 in 20 overs.
Knight Riders lost their last match against Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) the previous day by a brilliant performance by Saim Ayub and Shai Hope. Whereas Royals chased down a monstrous total by Cornwall’s superb innings against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (SNP).
Barbados Captain Rovman Powell wins the toss and opted to field first.
Nicholas Pooran (102 runs) the man with a tremendous power not only made runs but also took his team from a vulnerable position to a great one. He hits some gigantic sixes in his innings. Hits 10 sixes and 5 fours in his knock. Some handy innings played by Martin Guptill (38 runs) who supported him pretty well.
In the end Andre Russell (39 runs) and Pooran showed no mercy in the death overs and just took the soul away from the bowlers through their destructive hitting. As a result they were able to get 208 runs in 20 overs by losing 6 wickets.
Jason Holder took 2 wickets. Qais Ahmed again showed economic bowling and got 1 wicket also by spending only 27 runs in his 4 overs. Kyle Mayers and Rahkeem Cornwall both also get 1 wicket each.
The batting of the Royals failed miserably as none of the batters stood like Kyle Mayers (70 runs). He alone took the charge against the Knight Riders bowlers. Mayers hit 7 fours and 4 sixes in his innings. Rahkeem Cornwall, centurion from his previous match only scored 4 runs.
Roelof Van der Merwe (20 runs) played some good strokes in the end but the target was very far away from them and ultimately they only put 166 runs on the board in 20 overs by losing 7 wickets.
Bowlers of TKR performed brilliantly by obstructing the great batting lineup of Royals. Waqar Salamkheil and Akeal Hossein get 2 wickets each while Ali Khan, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine get 1 wicket each.
With this win TKR jumps to 2nd spot in the points table with 9 points in 7 matches whereas BR remains at the 4th spot with 7 points in 8 matches.
Nicholas Pooran, TKR, Player of the Match
“I am happy that I could perform. Happy with the win. Had luck on my side today. It was nice to come out here and play in this way, the crowd deserved it. Pollard and I bat together really well, but today the runout was a miscommunication. Everything happens for a reason and I took the responsibility after that run out.
I know my teammates wanted me to perform and I wanted to perform for the crowd. I was batting horrible earlier in the tournament, but happy that I could contribute tonight and we won the match.”
Rovman Powell, BR Captain
“I think 210 was always going to be a difficult total. They were 15-20 runs too many. Congratulations to them, they played really well. They had some good support from the Trinidad crowd, but that’s the same case with us. Even we had some great support when we played in Barbados. Mayers got back his form, Qais Ahmed also played well.”
Kieron Pollard, TKR Captain
“It was a total team effort. Getting over 200 and the way we fielded, it was a good team performance. It was about setting a foundation. It was just phenomenal. I think Pooran batted really well tonight. We know how dangerous he can be at the back end. Waqar can bowl googlies and the batters in the Caribbean are susceptible to wrist spin.
Well done to the guys, the spinners have done well. We have been playing back to back games and travelling a lot. The guys who haven’t played might have a practice session. We have an opportunity to relax in the next 48 hours and come back.”