TKR clinches the title with their clinical performance,
Trinbago Knight Riders met St. Lucia Zouks met at this year's CPL Final. At one end, Knight Riders, the home team haven't lost a single game whereas on the other end Zouks performance were inconsistent over a last few games. At previous edition, Guyana Amazon Warriors haven't lost single game before the final match, but at final, they were defeated by Barbados Tridents to win the trophy. Same is the timeline for Knight Riders, but they would be looking on to win the game, to become the first team to win the trophy unbeaten. Zouks will be looking to give an upset.
As a sole decision so far in this Tournament, Trinbago Knight Riders have won the toss and once again decided to field first. Narine weren't fit and Sikandar Raza were announced as replacement for Narine, which came out as a surprise news. Zouks used the initial powerplay so well. They prepared and structured in a way that they needed to hit atleast a boundary per over to maintain a standard run rate. Especially Fletcher's hitting towards Sikandar Raza were awesome !!. They scored 74/1 at the end of 8 overs, a first time counter attack over Knight Riders. But, this didn't last forever. Knight Riders came back strongly with Pollard a.k.a Polly picking up 4 wickets for just 30 overs, but those were the crucial ones of Andre Fletcher, Roston Chase, Najibullah Zadran and Javelle Glen who could have turned the game on their head, which would have been miserable. Polly used his slower ones with close to perfection and Zouks on the other hand collapsed for 154 runs. Yet, this is a good target to set.
Trinbago Knight Riders came into bat. They lost wickets too early in the form of Tion Webster and Siefert, which kept Zouks back in the driving seat. This made Simmons and Darren Bravo to take some on the field and play with rotating the strike. They scored 40/2 at the end of 6 overs. Simmons at one end, ensured hitting a boundary atleast once in 10 deliveries whereas Darren Bravo played slow with just defense and singles. But, the co ordination between them were so nice, as the experienced duo silently taking over the game. Zouks on the other hand, tried their mere ways to get rid of them. But, their fielding ruined them, as Knight Riders found it easy to play on. Till the end of 11 overs, there weren't much runs posted. But, after 11, runs started to flow.
They shifted their gears which shows their intellectual thinking of when to hit and when to defend. This intellectual thinking comes only if a player gains experience. Also, Knight Riders' route to success is due to their campaign of experienced cricketers along with the proper usage of each and every cricketer without disturbing the core. Pollard's captaincy were so crucial. Trinbago Knight Riders have won the game by 8 wickets with 10 balls to spare. Simmons scored an unbeaten 84(49) along with Darren Bravo scoring 54(46).
This is their fourth CPL Title and this is the first title to be won without getting
lost even a single game in this tournament. Man of the Match were given to Lendl Simmons for his brilliant innings. But, I personally felt that each and everyone should be given their credit. Pollard was named as Man of the Series for his all round performance over the tournament. Simmons is the leading run scorer of this tournament while Kuggelejin becomes the leading wicket taker of this tournament. So, a slow drama movie comes to an end.
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