Trinbago Knight Riders put the disappointment of their Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Playoff 1 defeat to Guyana Amazon Warriors behind them with a professional 20-run semi-final win over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.
A fine all-round bowling performance led by Australia leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed saw the Knight Riders comfortably defend a target of 166 and set up a rematch with the Warriors in the final. The Warriors have won their last two games against the Knight Riders, but Sunday’s clash is the one that matters
Not for the first time, the Knight Riders spinners were key to their success as both Sunil Narine and Fawad Ahmed proved almost impossible to get away, while even part-timer Colin Ingram made a telling contribution with the hugely important wicket of Devon Thomas, who had single-handedly put the Patriots in a strong early position with 35 of the 44 runs made before he was the second wicket to fall after seven overs.
The first went to Ali Khan, a revelation with the new ball this season, who finished off a stunning opening over with a perfect delivery to find Chris Gayle’s outside edge and send the big man back to the pavilion without scoring.
Narine and Fawad got the wickets their efforts deserved when Rassie van der Dussen chipped a return catch to Narine off a leading edge and Evin Lewis sent a slog-sweep off Fawad steepling high into the Trinidad sky to be well caught on the run by Colin Munro when it finally came back down.
Brandon King made a quick-fire 33 from 22 but when he became Narine’s second victim, bowled attempting to clear midwicket, the writing was on the wall.
Ali Khan returned to ramp up the pressure, giving up just six singles in the 15th over as the required rate climbed to 14.
That pressure told in the next over as Anton Devcich gave Fawad the charge and ran past a googly that spun beyond his flashing blade to hand Denesh Ramdin a straightforward stumping before Ben Cutting was trapped lbw on the sweep as Fawad ended with 3/13 from four near faultless overs.
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