TKR spin by Tridents to remain in playoff hunt

Knight Riders 147 for 6 (Pooran 59, Munro 38, Motie 3-29) beat Tridents 112 (Carter 21, Rutherford 21, Narine 4-12) by 35 runs

An innings of 59 from Nicholas Pooran and four wickets from Sunil Narine were enough to keep the Trinbago Knight Riders’ slim qualification hopes alive with a 35-run victory over the Barbados Tridents at the Kensington Oval in the 2026 Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

Pooran was 1 off 10 balls and 9 from 14 before a trio of sixes off the bowling of Mujeeb ur Rahmann got his innings going. That acceleration saw him reach his fifty in just 35 balls as he batted brilliantly against a Tridents attack that struggled to contain him.

In reply, the hosts could not get on top of the hugely experienced Knight Riders spin bowlers who wreaked havoc in the opening exchanges of the chase. Narine claimed three wickets inside the powerplay, dismissing both Quinton de Kock and Rivaldo Clarke for ducks.

The hosts never recovered from the early wickets, losing their first home game of the season.

The Tridents bowlers were excellent early on, with Chris Green sending down his four overs on the bounce to record figures of 0/17. Pooran was patient in the face of this tight bowling as he and Colin Munro put on a stand of 68, by far the highest of the match.

The Tridents had their chance to dismiss Pooran, but he was dropped on 35 off the bowling of debutant Jakeem Pollard, and that chance allowed him to put his team in a strong position for the death.

The Knight Riders failed to seize that opportunity, with no boundaries coming off the last five overs. After restricting TKR to 147 for 6, it felt like the Tridents were in control despite Pooran’s brilliance.

Unfortunately, the Tridents could not keep Narine (4/12) and Jyd Goolie (3/20) at bay. They found themselves 50/5 in the 10th over.

Some lusty blows from Daniel Sams kept the home crowd’s hopes alive for a while, but ultimately the web spun by the Knight Riders attack was too much for them to overcome. 

It was left to Sherfane Rutherford to keep the Tridents’ hopes alive, but when he fell for a joint top score of 21 with the score on 102 for 8, the game was all but over.