The opening match of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) between Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) and Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) witnessed a riveting T20 encounter at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tauroba.
Fans eagerly anticipating for the start of the T20 league were treated with some edge-of-the-seat action, as the match went down to the wire.
TKR, who won the toss and elected to field first, had to chase down a challenging score of 145, to clinch their opening encounter of the series.
Sunil Narine gave the perfect start to TKR with his flamboyant 28-ball 50. The all-rounder brought the required run-rate down to a considerable amount with his blitzkrieg.
However, the middle-order almost made a meal of the run-chase by losing wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand international, Tim Seifert, also lost his wicket to a reckless shot, with his team at the cusp of victory.
GAW all-rounder Keemo Paul bowled a half-tracker in the first delivery of the 16th over, which was asking to be hit.
Seifert could only manage the toe-end of the bat as the ball lobbed up in the air over extra over. Moreover, Brandon King, placed at mid-on, completed a cracking catch to add another twist into the run-chase.
King covered a lot of ground and latched on to the ball with a one-handed blinder, and shocked Seifert, who, for a moment, thought he had gotten away with a rash shot.
Here’s the video:
😱 WHAT. A. CATCH! 😱
A one-handed screamer from @GYAmazonWarrior fielder Brandon King – but it comes in defeat as @TKRiders win @CPL opener by 4️⃣ wickets
Watch more Caribbean Premier League action from 10pm on Sky Sports Cricket with @BIMTridents 🆚 @sknpatriots 🇧🇧🇰🇳 pic.twitter.com/9JNxNTwlBQ
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 18, 2020
Earlier, the Warriors, on the back of Shimron Hetmyer’s impressive 63* off 44 deliveries, were able to put some sort of a total in front of TKR.
Narine also dominated proceeding with the ball by picking up the vital wicket of Ross Taylor, who was looking dangerous at 31. In the end, it was Narine’s stellar all-round show which helped TKR win the match by four wickets.