Trinbago Knight Riders have strengthened their top position in the CPL 2020 points table after beating St Lucia Zouks by six wickets (DLS method) during the 13th game of the tournament at Queen’s Park Oval (Port of Spain). It was Knight Riders’ fourth successive victory in this tournament as they are the only team in this CPL season who hasn’t tasted any defeat yet.
After winning the toss, Trinbago Knight Riders decided to field first. The 48-year-old Indian cricketer Pravin Tambe became the first Indian to appear in a CPL match as the Knight Riders’ leg-spinner replaced Sunil Narine to make his CPL debut. Making his CPL debut at the age of 48 years and 323 days, Tambe also became the oldest cricketer in CPL history.
Before the rain interruption, St Lucia Zouks managed to score 111/6 in 17.1 overs. The match restarted almost two hours later where Knight Riders got the revised target of 72 runs in 9 overs. Knight Riders chased down that target in eight overs after losing four wickets (72/4).
Match Report
Trinbago Knight Riders innings: Darren Bravo and Tim Seifert helped the team to chase down the target
After the restart, Mohammad Nabi provided a very good start with a wicket of the opener Lendl Simmons (0) on the second ball of that innings while Trinbago Knight Riders hadn’t score any run yet. However, he conceded a four and sixer in the final two deliveries of that over.
In the third over of that innings, Kesrick Williams dismissed Colin Munro (17) and another opener Tion Webster (5). In the next over, captain Kieron Pollard (4) was caught behind and Chemar Holder took his only wicket in the game.
Struggling on 34/4, Darren Bravo and wicket-keeper batsman Tim Seifert built up the strong partnership that led them to the victory. They put the 41 runs partnership for the unbroken fifth-wicket where Darren Bravo remained not out on 23 runs off 13 balls (2 sixes) and Seifert scored 15 not out off 16 balls (only four).
St Lucia Zouks innings: Dwayne Bravo completed 500 T20 wickets, only Mohammad Nabi impressed with the bat
St Lucia Zouks hadn’t a good start in the first innings as the right-arm pacer Ali Khan provided the early breakthrough by dismissing the opener Andre Fletcher (10) in the third over of the innings.
Playing his 459th T20 match, Dwayne Bravo finally completed his 500th T20 wicket after dismissing another Zouks opener Rahkeem Cornwall (18) on his fourth ball of the match and became the first bowler to reach the milestone of 500 T20 wickets. In his next over, Bravo bowled Roston Chase for just 7 runs. Bravo finished that innings with the bowling figures of 3-0-7-2 and he ultimately won the Player of the Match award.
Pravin Tambe got the ball in hand for the first time in his CPL career during the 11th over of that innings. Najibullah Zadran welcomed him with a sixer, but after conceding 15 runs in that over, Tambe opened his wicket column in CPL career by dismissing Zadran (21 runs) on the final ball of that over. It was his only over in that match as he finished with the bowling figures of 1-0-15-1.
Mohammad Nabi continued his good form as he scored the crucial 30 not out off 22 balls (2 fours and only six) before the rain forced to stop that game.
CPL 2020: Updated Points Table after Match 13
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied (W/L) | No Results | Points | NRR |
| Trinbago Knight Riders | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.824 |
| St Lucia Zouks | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.1 |
| Guyana Amazon Warriors | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.048 |
| Jamaica Tallawahs | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.011 |
| Barbados Tridents | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.449 |
| St Kitts and Nevis Patriots | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.487 |