St Kitts beat Antigua in the 2025 CPL opener with Salamkheil four-for setting his side up for victory despite a stutter.
Waqar Salamkheil’s outstanding bowling effort helped the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots defeat the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons by six wickets in Basseterre, as the CPL 2025 got started to a low-scoring start.
Kyle Mayers, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Naseem Shah left Falcons at 39 for 3 inside the fifth over when Jason Holder decided to bowl. After entering the game in the eighth over, Afghanistan’s left-arm wristspinner Salamkheil was on target with his fourth ball, pitching just outside off stump and twisting it back in to strike the stumps of Fabian Allen. To finish with 4 for 22 from his four overs, he proceeded to spin out Odean Smith, Imad Wasim, and Shakib Al Hasan.
Karima Gore of the USA was fortunately in good form for the Falcons, but he had to do it alone because no other batter was contributing much. Eight fours and two sixes were part of Gore’s 34-ball 61, and the Falcons would have preferred that he bat for a longer period of time after walking out in the first over. In fact, a slower delivery sliced high for Andre Fletcher to take a quick running catch, and Farooqi came back to dismiss Gore in the 12th over.
The CPL 2021 champion Patriots needed to score 122, and while they did so with relative ease and never really appeared to be in danger of failing, Rahkeem Cornwall caused a slight lurch in between.
Before being dismissed by Obed McCoy in the fourth over, Evin Lewis quickly gained momentum, scoring 25 in 13 overs. Cornwall dismissed Kyle Mayers and Rilee Rossouw in the seventh over, but the Patriots emerged from the powerplay with only the loss of Lewis and 55 runs scored. The Patriots were now looking a little bit out of sorts at 56 for 3.
However, Fletcher was playing a sedative knock, and the Patriots found the ideal candidate in Alick Athanaze. At the end of the tenth over, Salamkheil’s countryman AM Ghazanfar dismissed Fletcher after he had scored 19 off 26 balls, but the Patriots had already reached 76. Athanaze, who scored an undefeated 37 off 28 balls. Holder, with 18 in 14 balls, finished the job from there with five overs in the bank.