CPL 2018 Trinbago Knight Riders vs Jamaica Tallawahs : Preview and Playing XI
Trinbago Knight Riders showed their quality in the first T20 at Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain in Trinidad and their bowlers did not even break a sweat as they clearly exposed the chinks in St Lucia's batting department. Now Defending champions will play their second consecutive home game against Jamaica Tallawahs at Queen's Park Oval on Friday, August 10. Both these sides have faced each other in 22 CPL games with Jamaica Tallawahs winning eight of them and Trinbago four.
Trinbago Knight Riders: The Riders put up a strong batting display in the opening game of the ongoing ODI series against St Lucia, scoring 195 runs in their allotted 20 overs. They could have scored much more had they not kept on losing wickets at the back end of their innings. Colin Munro hit a half-century in the opening fixture against Lucia, his 68 from 48 balls steering Trinbago to a huge total. His partner Dinesh Ramdin scored 50 runs from just 27 balls and the team will want them to fire once again.
With the ball, Dwayne Bravo will be the go-to man for the team. He was the pick of the bowlers in the first game with economical figures of 3/11 in three overs. He was well supported by Fawad Ahmed who took 3/16 in four overs comprising 16 dot balls. They will mostly rely on these two bowlers to deliver in the second fixture as well.
Expected Playing XI: Dwayne Bravo (C), Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Javon Scantlebury-Searles, Shannon Gabriel, Fawad Ahmed, Ali Khan, Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro and Brendon McCullum.
Jamaica Tallawahs: Jamaica finished third in the league stage of CPL 2017 after winning six of their ten matches. In playoffs they faced Guyana Amazon Warriors, who posted 168/8 from their 20 overs; Kumar Sangakarra hit 57 not out but Rashid Khan's hat-trick pinned them back. In reply, the Warriors had 13 balls to spare when they sealed a five-wicket win despite Mahmadullah's 3/25 from four overs.
With the bat, Skipper Andre Russell will be key for Jamaica on his return to the CPL, and does so after scoring 99 runs in the three T20 internationals for the West Indies against Bangladeshis. While South African batsman David Miller provide plenty of firepower in the middle order and he averages 35.54 in T20 matches, at a strike rate of 138.32.
With the ball, Imad Wasim will lead the spin bowling attack. The Welsh-born Pakistan international claimed four wickets in five games last season but more impressive was his economy rate of 5.35 runs per over. While Krishmar Santokie, who took 14 wickets in ten matches last season was the only Jamaica bowler to bowl a maiden in last year's Caribbean Premier League too.
Expected Playing XI : Andre Russell (C), Krishmar Santokie, Samuel Badree, Imad Wasim, Steven Jacobs, Steven Taylor, Glenn Phillips, David Millar, Andre McCarthy, Rovman Powell and Ross Taylor.