The Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors by four wickets to break the hold that the Warriors had on them since last season.
Sunil Narine, a right-arm off break bowler, showed his class turning in a fine all-round performance to send back the Warriors by four wickets in the opening match of the 2020 Hero CPL T20 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando on Tuesday.
SCORES: Guyana Amazon Warriors 144/5 (20) vs TKR 147/6 (16.4) - TKR won by four wickets. The mystery man grabbed 2/19 and then raced to 50 that brought victory to his team. It was their first victory since 2018 over the Warriors. In 2019 they defeated the TKR by 17 runs in their first match at the Queen's Park Oval and seven wickets at the Providence Stadium in the return match.
With the Warriors getting away at 73/2 in the 10th over, Narine came on to follow up his earlier wicket of Chandrapual Hemraj with that of the dangerous Ross Taylor to swing the tide of the match. He ended with 2/19 off his two overs and was able to keep top-scorer Shimron Hetmyer 63 not out quiet for most parts.
Narine, 32, then turned up with the bat to slam a 28-ball 50 to dig TKR out of a tricky start and unto victory. He was able to carry on after the loss of Lendl Simmons (17) as TKR was always ahead of the required rate. His 50 included four sixes and two fours. Also batting well was Darren Bravo who struck 30 off 27 balls with two sixes. Kiwi Colin Munro gave the innings the impetus it needed upfront with 17 off seven balls. TKR lost four wickets towards the end for the cost of 47 runs but the victory was always on the cards after the work of the bowlers.
Earlier on, TKR skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and decided to send in the Warriors on a cloudy day with rain a constant threat. The match was reduced to 17 overs per side and started an hour and a half late due to heavy early morning rain.
Muhammad Ali Khan gave TKR the perfect start by sending back Brandon King for a duck in the first over. King scored 496 runs last year to be the highest scorer in the tournament. He also drew a very confident appeal against Shimron Hetmyer in the same over but the southpaw survived.
Hetmyer would go on to score 63 not out off 44 balls with two fours and two sixes. Taylor and Hetmyer batted well in tandem with the veteran New Zealander counting 33 off 21 balls with two sixes and two fours.
Meanwhile, TKR captain Pollard said that the victory was scrappy but still appreciated. "Any competition, you want to start well. A little scratchy and scrappy but good to get over the line. We needed to play a good game of cricket and it was a good game of cricket. Points on the board at the start."
The star of the tournament's opening encounter Narine said it was a good win. "Getting Taylor's wicket was key while bowling." He enjoyed his stint with the bat: "Batting got easier as the day went on. They bowled well, but I just continued trying to stay as still as possible. It's a good win, although it got close."
Losing skipper Green said emulating 11 wins in a row as they did last year was always going to be difficult. "It was going to be tough beating 11 wins in a row from last year. Was a tough game, and the first game in a long time, so. Given the start, losing two early wickets, I think Taylor and Hetmyer batted really well. We thought 140 would be a good score. We spoke about holding that length, and when we went away from that, we got hurt. Plenty of room for improvement."
MATCH RESULTS
Trinbago Knight Riders 147/6 (Narine 50, Darren Bravo 30, Munro 17; Naveen 2/21, Tahir 2/40, Paul 1/21, Shepherd 1/30) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 144/5 (Hetmyer 63*, Taylor 33, Pooran 18, Paul 15*; Narine 2/19, Ali Khan 1/21, Seales 1/24) by four wickets.