Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 marked the return of cricket’s first global T20 tournament following the enforced break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there was plenty of action on the opening day in Trinidad and Tobago.
There was no crowd at the Brian Lara Stadium, but there was no lack of action as Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) defeated Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) by five wickets in a rain-affected match to begin their campaign with 2 points.
Meanwhile, in the second match of the CPL 2020 between Barbados Tridents (BT) and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (SKP), Tridents’ Rashid Khan smacked a spectacular six to leave the commentators shell-shocked.
It all happened on the penultimate delivery of the 15th over. While facing his first delivery of the match, Rashid brilliantly flicked an Alzarri Joseph delivery for a maximum. Though the Aghani made it look like an effortless shot, it must’ve required a significant amount of timing and hand-eye coordination to execute such a shot after months of break from cricket.
Rashid’s 26* (20) played a vital role for the Tridents as the defending champions posted a competitive 153/9 in their stipulated 20 overs.
Later, Barbados’ terrific bowling unit restricted Patriots at 147/5 despite a brisk 50-run partnership for the third wicket between debutant Joshua Da Silva (41 not out) and Ben Dunk (34).
All-rounder Mitchell Santner was the pick of the bowlers for Tridents with figures of 4-1-18-2. Rashid also contributed with the ball as he dismissed Patriots’ Denesh Ramdin (13) and Jahmar Hamilton (13) on successive deliveries in the 18th over.
Brief scores: Barbados Tridents 153-9 in 20 overs (Jason Holder 38, Kyle Mayers 37; Sheldon Cottrell 2-16, Rayad Emrit 2-16) beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots 147-5 in 20 overs (Joshua Da Silva 41*, Ben Dunk 34; Mitchell Santner 2-18, Rashid Khan 2-27) by 6 runs.
Here’s the video of Rashid Khan’s spectacular hit:
SHOT BOI! @rashidkhan_19 unleashes #cpl20 #BTvSKP #CricketPlayerLouder pic.twitter.com/37HrhiWDY2
— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 18, 2020