Jamaica Tallawahs defeated the defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders by 19 runs in a crucial CPL 2016 encounter in Kingston on Monday. With this win, Tallawahs have reached the top of the CPL 2016 points table. The Chris Gayle-led Tallawahs now have 11 points from seven games in CPL 2016.
Trinbago Knight Riders skipper Dwayne Bravo won the toss and asked the Tallawahs to bat first. The hosts did not get off to a good start, as they lost both their openers -- Chadwick Walton and Gayle -- early.
Kumar Sangakkara (23, 21b, 1x4, 1x6) and Rovman Powell (44, 34b, 2x4, 4x6) added 72 runs together to steady the innings. However, Shakib Al Hasan, who came up with two crucial innings in the last couple of matches, failed in this game with the bat.
It was Russell who took control of the innings, as he went hammer and tongs towards the back end. Russell (44, 24b, 5x4, 3x6) powered his side to a decent total of 158 for the loss of seven wickets at the end of 20 overs.
Kevon Cooper (4-0-22-3) was the pick of the bowlers for the Knight Riders.
Knight Riders too could not get off to a good start as Brendon McCullum and Colin Munro got themselves out after playing needless shots.
Hashim Amla (42, 36b, 2x4, 2x6) went about anchoring the run chase from the other end. The other batsmen kept on getting out at regular intervals and that was stopped the momentum that Amla was generating from the other end.
Denesh Ramdin (31, 24b, 1x4, 2x6) tried hard towards the end to bring Knight Riders close to the target, but he too got out at an important time during the run chase.
It was Russell's day as he picked up four wickets with the ball as well (4-0-22-4). Russell picked up two back-to-back wickets in the 17th over, in which he conceded just a solitary run. Sangakkara took a screamer behind the stumps for one of those wickets, and that probably was the turning point of the match.
Dale Steyn (4-1-21-2) and Imad Wasim (3-0-15-1) too bowled well to restrict their opponents from reaching the target.
