TKS vs BR, Review | Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran's explosive knocks help Knight Riders to seven-wicket win

‌Trinbago Knight Riders won the toss and chose to field, and it was an evenly matched power play between the two teams. Though the Knight Riders managed to get an early wicket of Quinton de Kock in the fourth over, Brandon King and Kadeem Alleyne managed to score some runs towards the end of the six overs to take the score to 44/1. The two batters continued to score their runs steadily in the next four overs and took the score to 70/1 after 10 overs. However, as soon as the partnership started to look threatening, King edged the ball to the keeper off Andre Russell, which brought an end to the 56-run stand. Unfortunately for the Knight Riders, the dismissal was not the end of their worries as Sherfane Rutherford joined Alleyne at the crease and took off the pressure of the scoring rate with some fearless strokes. Though the 41-run stand finally came to an end with Mohammad Amir dismissing Alleyne after his calm and composed knock of 41 off 37, the Royals still managed to get 48 runs in the next 30 deliveries to take the score to 118/2 after 15 overs. The last five overs saw the Royals add another 60 runs despite losing four wickets in the process. While Russell and Amir kept chipping away with the wickets, Rutherford's knock of 45 off 22 and Royals skipper Rovman Powell’s cameo of 31 off 15 ensured that the team reached a competitive score of 179/6 in the end.

Though a total of over 170+ on a dry and slow surface at Trinidad was considered to be challenging, opening batters Colin Munro and Alex Hales made batting look easy with some positive strokeplay at the top. Though the partnership of 55 was broken with Hales getting caught at cover point off Ramon Simmonds, it was still a solid power play for the hosts, with the score reading 56/1. The Royal seemed to be back in the game as Keacy Carty was dismissed cheaply by Jomel Warrican, but Knight Riders skipper Nicholas Pooran announced himself at the crease with some big hits as the runs started to flow thick and fast. With 63 runs coming off the next 24 balls, the home team was in a commanding position at 119/2 after 10 overs. The two southpaws continued the onslaught in the second half of the innings until the 93-run stand between the two finally came to an end with Munro being run out in the 15th over. While the Kiwi opener’s incredible knock of 67 off 44 ended in an unfortunate way, the damage was already done with Knight Rider’s score reading 149/3, and the team needing only 30 runs in the last five overs. In the end, the score was finally chased down in 17.5 overs with Pooran remaining unbeaten on 65 off 40 deliveries, and Kieron Pollard also joining the party with a quickfire cameo of 19 runs off just nine deliveries. This dominant seven-wicket win also ensured that the four-time CPL champions jumped to the top of the points table with 4 wins and one loss from their five matches.

Colin Munro was awarded the player of the match prize for his incredible half-century at the top, which helped his team stay ahead of the Royals in the game.