TKR put on a fighting effort yet victory evades| TKR vs ABF Match Review
TKR 134/8 in 20 Overs [Kieron Pollard 47(37); Fabian Allen 2/13 in 2 Overs) lost to ABF 135/4 in 19 Overs [Justin Greaves 46(48); Sunil Narine 1/20 in 4 Overs] by 6 wickets.
The Trinbago Knight Riders faced off against the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in their second home game of the season at the Queen’s Park Oval. After clinching a sensational victory just a day before, TKR were back out on the park searching for another impressive victory. The Knight Riders were on a terrific winning spree and aimed to make it 4 wins in a row against ABF and move up to the top of the table. Just one win away from qualification to the knockout stages, TKR were highly motivated to pick up yet another important victory. The fans were eager to cheer and celebrate their favorite team and have a total blast at the stadium.
After being put into bat first, TKR were rocked early as they lost Sunil Narine in the first wicket itself. Nicholas Pooran and Shaqkere Parris tried to build a partnership and take advantage of the powerplay but ABF kept bowling tight lines to not allow them to break free. Despite stitching small partnerships, TKR kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 42/4 at one point in time. It was now upto Skipper Kieron Pollard and last game’s hero Tim David to do the rebuilding job. Both took their time and joined up to build a great partnership. However, just when things started to look like they were going TKR’s way, Tim David and Andre Russell both were dismissed on back-to-back deliveries, leaving TKR stuttering. Despite wickets falling at the other end, Pollard kept fighting and accumulating crucial runs from one end. His fighting knock of 47 dragged TKR to a competitive score of 134. It was all up to the bowlers now to work their magic and help TKR propel towards victory.
TKR started the defense of this target in an outstanding manner, as Akeal Hosein picked up a wicket off the third ball of the innings as he dismissed Brandon King with a brilliant delivery. Immediately after this wicket, skipper Kieron Pollard brought in TKR’s golden arm Andre Russell into the attack. As he is accustomed to do, Dre-Russ didn’t disappoint and picked up the wicket to put furthermore pressure on the ABF batters. TKR looked to keep picking up wickets and staying relentless. The TKR spinners kept it tight and didn’t allow the ABF batters to get off to fliers. However, despite the best of TKR’s efforts, Justin Greaves and Imad Wasim steered ABF to victory. TKR will now get back to the drawing board and aim to comeback stronger in their next game. The team will be proud of the fight they’ve shown and will be confident of bouncing back in the upcoming game.