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That is all she wrote for this encounter with the Knight Riders surging to the top of the pile while the Royals continue to remain the cellar dwellers of the tournament. We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this game as much as we did in bringing it to you - thank you so much for tuning in to the same and do keep yourselves up to date with all the other cricketing action across the globe right here on Sportskeeda. For now though, on behalf of my co-commentator and good friend Pradeep Somashekar, this is Sooryanarayanan Sesha humbly requesting you to stay safe and get vaccinated in case you haven't already. Good night and do take care!
And as this game has drawn to a close, West Indies have announced their squad for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be held in Oman and the UAE next month. As Kieron Pollard mentioned of course, that bridge will have to be crossed when it comes. With regards to his TKR side, they have been on the upswing after a very up and down start to their campaign and signs of them peaking at the right time as the business end approaches is a warning signal for the rest of the teams in the competition. The Royals need a miracle hereon though - even consecutive victories in their last two games might not be good enough with a host of other results needing to go their way. It has been a lackadaisical campaign for Jason Holder's men whose batters just don't seem to be coming to terms with the sluggish nature of the surface at Warner Park.
Kieron Pollard (Trinbago Knight Riders Captain): Well done to the boys. At the halfway stage of the tournament, we were struggling for a couple of wins. We knew where we had to work on though and we've done really well. This is the business end of the tournament and we have to nail down all our weaknesses. (On facing the Patriots next in back-to-back games) They are a good team with world class players in their lineup. They have experienced players too. We need to just focus on what we have to do for our victory. We wouldn't focus on the playoffs just yet, we are just going to be focused on the next game. We are strong and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves in the next couple of games. Couple of birthdays in our camp, all of us smiling and some of us may be smiling more if we get selected for the World Cup, so a few reasons to celebrate. Congrats to all the guys who have been selected for the World Cup and hopefully we can go and have a good tournament. When that time comes of course, we will cross that bridge but happy for whoever has been selected.
Jason Holder (Barbados Royals Captain): The toss was crucial. There was a lot of moisture in the wicket and it still played difficult - they took 17 overs to get those runs. I think we were 10-15 runs short today. We are in good spirits still. It's been a tough campaign but the guys are in good spirits. Unfortunately Azam Khan is going back to Pakistan tonight. The conditions were difficult as well and their spinners bowled really well.
Kharry Pierre (Player of the Match): It's good to contribute to a win. The bowlers went out there and put the ball in the right areas. It was a complete team effort and I am happy to contribute to the win. We had to bowl in the right areas and I was happy to do that and get the rewards. It's always good to win so we will go and enjoy it.
Despite an early scare, it was always going to be a stroll in the park for the Trinbago Knight Riders. Mohammad Amir came out with the white cherry on a string as he snuffed out Lendl Simmons with a rip snorter off the very first ball of the innings. Amir came back to remove Tion Webster as well in his very next over but that was largely down to a terrific running catch on the part of Jake Lintott.
Lintott was miserly with the ball as his googlies in particular were tough to pick for Colin Munro. Darren Bravo looked awfully scratchy out in the middle but with a sub-100 target ahead of them, there was absolutely no need to panic as both left-handers were content with maneuvering the ball around and seeing their eye in.
The boundaries then started to come at regular intervals and with the few half-chances not capitalized on by the Royals, the game was all but out of their bounds. Joshua Bishop did send down an excellent spell through the course of which he accounted for a couple of wickets but with Munro looking assured in the middle, the result was always going to be a mere formality. And as if Akeal Hosein's stocks weren't rising already, he only added onto them with a couple of massive hits to seal the game in favor of the Knight Riders, who have now surged to the top of the table with a playoffs spot all but certain from the looks of it! Clear signs of a team peaking at the right time and wouldn't that please Kieron Pollard to bits!
The wickets in that second essay belonged to Mohammad Amir and Joshua Bishop, who both accounted for a couple apiece. Amir in particular had his tail up and that first over was reminiscent of his lethal showing against India in the Asia Cup of 2016. While Bishop's figures took a dent with those big hits from Hosein, he executed his role to perfection while receiving excellent support from Jake Lintott, who continued to impress all and sundry with his nagging display of bowling. The game was lost during the first half of the contest though with yet another insipid batting display from the Royals leaving far too much work for their bowlers to do...
He was sent up to get some hitting time out in the middle and Akeal Hosein has made the most of this little opportunity alright! He has sealed the contest with the rarest of rare commodities today - back-to-back sixes - to cap off a resounding win for the defending champions. Trinbago Knight Riders win by 6 wickets with 19 deliveries to spare!
17.0
16.5 Joshua Bishop to Akeal Hosein, SIX MORE! FINISHES THINGS IN STYLE! That probably seals the fate for Royals as well to stay alive in the tournament as they needed to desperately win this. Length delivery on the middle and off as Hosein goes down his knee and SMOKES it well over the deep square-leg fence for a gigantic maximum!
16.4 Joshua Bishop to Akeal Hosein, SIX! BANG! Hosein's had enough as he comes forward for the length delivery and then CLOBBERS it well over the deep mid-wicket fence for a huge maximum!
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Warner Park, St Kitts, Basseterre
