The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 got underway with a double-header on Tuesday. In the first match of the season, Trinbago Knight Riders defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors, while the second match witnessed Barbados Tridents overpowering St Kitts & Nevis Patriots.
Sunil Narine was the star in Knight Riders’ victory with his all-round performance. Spinning duo of Abdul Rashid and Mitchell Santner, meanwhile, were thr driving force behind Tridents’ success.
While Knight Riders ended Guyana Amazon Warriors’ 11-match winning streak beating them by four wickets in a match reduced to 17 overs, Tridents edged aside St. Kitts & Nevis Patriot by six runs at the Brian Lara Academy at Tarouba on Tuesday.
In the first contest of the day, Narine’s 50 in 28 balls with four sixes and two fours, after taking two for 19 in his four overs were the key for Trinbago, though in the end they needed Bravo brothers, Darren (30) and Dwayne (six not out), to see them through with two balls to spare against Guyana Amazon Warriors, for whom Shimron Hetmyer’s scored 63 not out off just 44 balls.
Batting first, Warriors managed to register 144/5 which Knight Riders chased down with two balls to spare.
Brief Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 147/6 (Narine 50, Darren Bravo 30; Naveen 2/21) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 144/5 (Hetmyer 63*, Taylor 33; Narine 2/19) by four wickets
In the second match of the day, Santner (20 and 2 for 18) and Rashid (26 and 2 for 27) carried the day for Barbados Tridents and helped them to a winning start over St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in their title defense.
Tridents put up 153/9 in their stipulated 20 overs and they then restricted Patriots to 147/5 to win the game.
Brief scores: Barbados Tridents 153/9 (Holder 38, Mayers 37; Emrit 2/16) beat St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 147/5 (Da Silva 41*, Dunk 34; Santner 2/18, Rashid 2/27) by 6 runs.
With IANS inputs