TKR 168/3 in 19.5 Overs [Nicholas Pooran 91*(59), Jason Roy 25(17); Maheesh Theekshana 1/33 in 4 Overs] lost to BR 64/1 in 4.2 Overs [David Miller 50*(17); Sunil Narine 1/22 in 2 Overs] by 9 wickets (DLS Method)
The Trinbago Knight Riders took on the Barbados Royals in the all important Eliminator in Guyana as they aimed to inch closer to the ultimate dream. After a strong performance in the previous game, TKR were raring to go in this encounter and the previous 2 victories over BR in the league stages added a lot of confidence amongst the team. All season long, TKR have performed as a team with different people stepping up at different stages of the game which meant TKR has match-winners at every different stage. It was all to play for with everything on the line and two heavyweight sides clashed with the fans eager to cheer for their favourite side waiting for a mouth-watering concept.
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Skipper Kieron Pollard won the crucial toss and chose to bat first with the data being in favour of the sides batting first and TKR winning their previous game on this same stadium by batting first. TKR looked to start aggressively as they have done throughout and keep the momentum going. However, they had an inauspicious start to their innings as they lost the wicket of Sunil Narine in the first over. Much identical to the last game, Nicholas Pooran found himself in a difficult position and found a way out with a crafty batting delight. He alongside Jason Roy built a terrific partnership as they played the situation beautifully. Soon after stabilizing the innings, Roy lost his wicket trying to take the aggressive route but in walked skipper Pollard and didn’t allow a collapse to happen. Meanwhile, Pooran continued his merry way with smashing the bowlers to all parts of the stadium. Pollard was a perfect foil around Pooran where one’s solidity allowed the other to continue his blitzkrieg. Moving into the final phases, TKR were ready to explode after working hard in the middle overs to create a base and not lose too many wickets. Pooran and Andrea Russell started to launch the Royals bowlers everywhere, however an odd light-failure caused the game to come to a halt with TKR at 168/3 in 19.1 Overs and Pooran unbeaten on 91. This delay seemed to be a momentary one but turned out to be a huge factor. Almost more than one hour of play was lost due to the dysfunctioning of a couple of light towers. The light failure caused TKR innings to come to close and the game to be shortened to a 5-Over contest. The target for BR was set to be 60 runs in 5 Overs.
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TKR found themselves defending a target of 60 runs in 5 overs and looked to adapt to the situation as early as possible. The ever-reliable Sunil Narine was given the ball to start the innings and he picked up a wicket straight away as he knocked over the stumps of Quinton De Kock. TKR looked to keep the asking rate up for the Royals and continue to add to the wickets column. Chris Jordan also came into the wickets tally as he dismissed BR skipper Rovman Powell however it turned out to be a no ball with Powell getting a reprieve. Despite the best effort of the bowlers, TKR ended up on the losing side as David Miller steered the Royals to the target. An extremely disappointing end for TKR where they would feel hard done by the uncontrollable factors, but they will be immensely proud of their efforts and their journey in the season. Overall it was a tremendous season overall for TKR with many memories to savour.
