The Trinbago Knight Riders are Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League champions for the fifth time, defeating the Guyana Amazon Warriors by three wickets on Sunday at Georgetown’s Providence Stadium, in front of a naturally partisan Guyanese crowd.
The Warriors won the toss and opted to bat first, but they made a poor fist of it. Quentin Sampson was the first to go out for a duck in the first over. Ben McDermott hoisted Akeal Hosein for 14 runs in the fourth over, but he was next to depart, for 28 off 17 balls, in the sixth over. At the end of the powerplay, the home team were just 41-2.
Things got no better for them in the middle overs. Hosein bowled Shai Hope for 12 to start the eighth over. The man with the most maidens in CPL history, Sunil Narine tightened the screws on the home team by giving up nothing in the 10th over, with the Warriors struggling at 57-3.
After 14 overs, with Moeen Ali and Shimron Hetmyer gone for a combined 14 runs, the Warriors were 76-5, with an anaemic 5.42 run rate. Dwaine Pretorius sought to shake off the inertia in the 17th over, hitting Narine for 15 runs, including two sixes. But the South African got out to start the 18th over.
The hosts sputtered to 130-8, losing wickets to the last two balls of the innings. Saurabh Netravalkar took 3-25, Usman Tariq 1-12, and Hosein 2-26 from their combined 123 overs. Iftikhar Ahmed’s 30 led the way, followed by McDermott’s 28.
The Warriors got off to an inauspicious start in defense of their total, but they soon got back on track, pegging the chasing team back. In the end, however, it was TKR’s night.
An 11-ball over from Romario Shepherd yielded 11 runs. After the fall of Colin Munro for a rapid 23 off 15, Moeen Ali answered Narine’s maiden with one of his own, to Nicholas Pooran. By the final ball of the sixth over, the Knight Riders were only slightly ahead at 45-2.
At the halfway stage of their innings, they kept their noses just in front. Despite brilliant bowling from Moeen Ali and Warriors captain Imran Tahir, 1-17 from a combined five overs, TKR were well poised at 62-3.
After starring with the ball, Narine nudged his team further ahead with two towering sixes off fellow spinner Gudakesh Motie. The Warriors countered with pace, and Shamar Joseph did for Narine, 22 from 17. But TKR stayed comfortably ahead of the required run rate.
In came Kieron Pollard, who dealt Tahir for three sixes, reducing the target to just 22 from 36 balls upon conclusion of the 14th over.
There would be more twists in the tale, though. Tahir sent Pollard and Andre Russell back to the dugout in consecutive balls. Joseph had Alex Hales caught and bowled for 26 off 34.
But it was too little, way too late. Hosein and Keacy Carty carried TKR to victory, with Hosein dealing Motie a six and a four to cap it off in the 18th over. Not only was this the Knight Riders’ first title success in five years, it was their first win in a championship game outside of Trinidad and Tobago, and their first under new head coach, the former West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo.
(TF)
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