Nine out of Nine ; Consolatory one for Tridents

The league stage of this year's Caribbean Premier League had reached its end point. At this situation, the list of teams qualified for semifinal has been announced. So, the games played after the announcement and before the semifinal games are just for scheduled formality. Yet, we have seen some mind blowing games which happened between Knight and Zouks at the one end while Tridents and Tallawahs meet at second game of the day. 

Knight Riders VS Zouks

Table toppers fight on this game. At one end, Knight Riders have won 8 out of 8 in this season, and didn't record even a single loss. On the other hand, despite being a strong franchise, Zouks have been a batting downtrodden at previous two games. Hence, they would be looking to improve on the batting department. Zouks have won the toss and decided to bowl first. 

As usual, Trinbago Knight Riders, have impressed with the bat. After a previous 96 by Simmons, again he failed. But other than him, Each and every batsmen have contributed much to the score of 175. Their consistency remains each and every time during them batting first, as reaching the benchmark of 170 tuns. This benchmark turning out to be their ultimate formula, as wickets provided in this edition were too slow to bat on. Hence, chasing this amount of score would be toughest issue for the batting second. Once again, Pollard smacks boundary with his fine touch. He glides with his strong forearms which casually clears the boundary. Darren Bravo's consistency is also not to be forgotten. Yet another fifty from him. Whereas Zouks' bowling had a great start, but after few overs, they started to collapse due to Knight Riders' counter attack.

Zouks came into bat. Comparative to Trinbago Knight Riders, Zouks had a very good start. Mark Deyal played with a good flare. Along with him, Andre Fletcher partnered and built an important partnership. Both have scored important knocks which didn't save the match for them, but will definitely be helpful at semifinals. The difference due to which Trinbago won is that their change in plan. After Jayden Seales went for 19 runs in his first over, Pollard decided to hand the ball to DJ Bravo. Also, he himself took full responsibility of picking up wickets. As, the wicket started slowing, they perfectly executed slower balls and cutter balls to pick the wickets of middle order, which created a rift in the rhythm. Finally, they scored only 152/7 at the end of 20 overs, meaning the 9th win in a row for Knight Riders in this season. Kieron Pollard was awarded Man of the Match.

Tridents VS Tallawahs

These are the two teams where one inched over the other to qualify for the semi finals. Between these two teams, there were a mild competition for the number 4 spot. In this, an extra bonus point due to rain affected match for Tallawahs against St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots, meant them qualifying for the number four spot. Other than that extra bonus point, no difference between these two teams' performances. Even though Tallawahs have been qualified, still they look to win the game to improve their performances. On the other hand, Tridents look into hand a consolation win to please their wins. 

Tallawahs had won the toss and decided to bat first. They might be on the expectation that, Tridents may not bat well, as during last three games, they have scored only double digits as team totals. Blackwood made a good solid start. He placed the balls in the gaps, and didn't tried hitting much on air. His start along with ruthless power hitting of Andre Russell, guided Tallawahs to 161/4. Yet, this score remains bit less, as the tight bowling of Tridents in the middle overs, builded an immense pressure. Yet, this is a good score as the wickets are slow. 

Tridents came into bat. Till this match, they had lacked extraordinary amount of confidence. But, this match showed the positive side of built confidence. Once yet again, their start were poor with losing two wickets in alternative overs. But, Captain Jason Holder, promoted himself above the order. After promoting him, he made Jonathan Carter to rotate single at one end, while he himself counter attacked each and every bowlers. His flick shots and his lofted on drives, made the bowlers to pamper around him. This knock made Tridents in an uphold which the final rites were made by Mitchell Santner. An important 69* from Holder, made him as Man of the Match.