The Trinbago Knight Riders won against the Barbados Royals in the twenty-eighth match of CPL 2024 at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad and Tobago. The 30-run victory increased Knight Riders’ chances to get into the top two spots before the playoffs. Barbados Royals faced their fourth successive defeat of the CPL 2024 season.
Brian Lara Stadium pitch conditions tend to favor spinners because of their slow nature. Seam bowlers will have to bust out their cutters and slow ball for this ground. The average first innings total in T20I matches played at this venue is only 135.
Barbados Royals won the toss and chose to bowl first. Starting with a loss, Trinbago Knight Riders lost early with opening batsman Jason Roy to Royals bowler Theekshana. Coming to bat in second position, Nicolas Pooran managed to fill the gap of the first wicket by hitting four boundaries and a six with a modest 27 runs off 15 balls.
Royals Bowlers Holder and Naveen-ul-Haq again shift the momentum of the game by taking two most important wickets of Knight Riders Batsmen Shaqkere Parris and Pooran. Riders then sent their middle lineup to the number four position, Kaecy Carty.
Kaecy Carty played very cautiously in this game and managed to score a 32-run off 34 deliveries. Alongside Carty, Captain Kieron Pollard started to settle himself on the pitch, and this partnership led the Tribago knight riders past 100 runs in less than 14 overs.
Despite Royals bowlers putting immense pressure, Knight Riders captain Pollard performed outstanding and scored a remarkable 42 runs from just 27, including four top-notch sixes. Supporting Pollard, Russell, playing aggressively, smashed 31 off 12, finishing the last overs with a total score of 175 for seven wickets.
Among the Barbados Royals bowlers, Mahesh Theekshana and Naveen-ul-Haq dispatched three of their four overs for 35 runs each.
Hunting for a total score of 176, Barbados Royals had a rough start, their top three batters to TKR new ball spinner Akeal Hosein. Royals opening batsman Kadeem Alleyne lost his wicket in the very first over of the innings. Quinton de Kock could not manage to pick up the momentum and managed to score just eight runs before getting out.
The pressure was building, and Royal batsman Kevin Wickham crumbled under it. Losing his wicket to Knight Riders Akeal Hosein. Akeal Hosein moved swiftly to his left and dived to take the wicket with one hand, which was successful.
Barbados Royals faced immense pressure in the first half of the inning and were only able to score around 66 runs. After this, Barbados Royal was unable to revive itself and continued to lose wickets in the next half of the match with a total score of 145-9.
Ultimately, the Trinbago Knight Riders won the match with a huge margin of 30 runs.
