Knight Riders beat Falcons courtesy Amir and Carty, who played starring roles with the bat and ball respectively.
Amir and Carty play the starring roles as Knight Riders end Falcons jinx.
Though Trinbago Knight Riders’ jinx-breaking victory over Antigua and Barbuda Falcons (who had lost all three games before this one) on Wednesday night in the CPL 2025 was all but guaranteed long before that, Nicholas Pooran ended the match with a huge six off Jayden Seales with eight balls and eight wickets in the bank.
In order to set up a chase of 147, Mohammad Amir, Andre Russell, and Akeal Hosein took seven wickets apiece. After that, Alex Hales and Keacy Carty put up a partnership of 87 runs for the second wicket, which took a long time (73 balls), but Knight Riders were never hurried.
The Falcons’ greatest batter of the evening, Jewel Andrew, took a shot, but little McKenny Clarke made a most amazing catch in the deep by sprinting to intercept it and then simply stretching out his hand to find the ball in it.
For Knight Riders, who had dropped their previous three meetings with Falcons, it was rather all-encompassing. It helped them get off to a strong start in their home leg and moved them up to No. 2, just behind Falcons, in the standings.
However, Pooran had won the toss and given Amir & Co. an opportunity to take a swing at the Falcons hitters, just as the Knight Riders had hoped.
Andries Gous and Andrew made the comeback in the main, and the Falcons scored 43 runs in the powerplay, which gave them a starting point. However, Hosein quickly dismissed Shakib Al Hasan (13 from 14) and Gous, who made a sluggish 17-ball 14, before Clarke’s catch completed Andrew’s innings at 40 from 31 balls. In the same over, bowler Russell dismissed Fabian Allen as well, leaving the Falcons at a vulnerable 71 for 6.
The table-toppers needed to mount another comeback, and skipper Imad Wasim and his compatriot Usama Mir delivered. Mir finished with 34 in 26 and Imad with 37 not out in 25 balls, so the Falcons had at least something to work with.And when Shakib got rid of the in-form Colin Munro in the fourth over, there was hope in the Falcons camp.
However, Hales, who was initially slow to bat but quickly picked up speed as needed, and Carty joined forces and batted until the middle of the 16th over, leaving the other Knight Riders batters with little work to do. Carty was the second man out after reaching his half-century first, with a final score of 60 from 45.
Hales, though, stuck put, completed his half-century, and was unbeaten on 55 off 46 balls when Pooran concluded the game, himself unbeaten on an 11-ball 23.