Trinbago Knight Riders win Caribbean Premier League 2020
Pollard led from the front as he picked up 4 wickets to restrict St Lucia Zouks to a score of 155. Andre Fletcher top-scored for the Zouks with 39 runs with Fawad Ahmed also picking up 2 wickets for TKR.
Trinbago Knight Riders defeated St Lucia Zouks by 8 wickets to win the 2020 edition of the Caribbean Premier League. This was a season to remember for the Kieron Pollard-led side as they did not lose even a single match this season.
Pollard led from the front as he picked up 4 wickets to restrict St Lucia Zouks to a score of 154. Andre Fletcher top-scored for the Zouks with 39 runs with Fawad Ahmed also picking up 2 wickets for TKR.
The chase was made easy by Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo as they hit an unbeaten 138-run partnership to take the Knight Riders to an eight-wicket win in the final. Simmons top-scored with 84 runs with Bravo hitting 58.
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TKR became the first team in the history of CPL to win all matches in the tournament.The final victory was achieved without one of their premier players Sunil Narine being dropped from the XI.
The turning point certainly was the 17th over bowled by inexperienced Afghan left-arm wrist spinner Zahir Khan, which went for 23 runs. From 41 required off 24 balls, it came down to run a ball as Simmons hit a six and Bravo hit a couple of biggies.Down to run-a-ball, Scott Kuggeleijn, Zouks' most effective fast bowler lost his length against a rampaging Simmons, who hit a six and a four to effectively finish the contest as 16 came from the over.
In all, Simmons (4 sixes, 8 fours) and Bravo (2 fours and six sixes) hit 10 sixes between them apart from 10 boundaries.Earlier, TKR skipper Pollard marshalled his resources brilliantly while showing the way with figures of 4 for 30 which restricted Zouks to 154 after racing away to 77 for one at one stage. Pollard bowled his variation of slower deliveries on a pitch where the ball gripped and came late.
Mark Deyal (29 off 27 balls), Fletcher (39 off 27 balls), Roston Chase (22 off 14 balls) got starts but couldn't convert.
The last six wickets fell in six overs for 39 runs as Darren Sammy's side missed out on crossing 175-run mark.
Save Pollard, pacer Ali Khan (2 for 25 in 3.1 overs) and leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed (2/22 in 3 overs) rose to the occasion on a day when TKR missed Sunil Narine and also Dwayne Bravo didn't bowl a single over out of the 19.1 that they sent down.
