1
0
6
0
4
6
= 17
Match Details
ABF vs TKR, Eliminator 1 T20, CPL 2025 live
TKR
168-1(17.3)
Trinbago Knight Riders won by 9 wickets 🏆
ABF
(20.0)166-8
+
P'ship : 143(86)
Commentary
All
Highlights
Overs
W
6s
4s
Inn 1
Inn 2
Milestone
So, that is it from myself, Karthik Raj, my co-commentator, AkshayaKrishna Polya and our scorer, Dushyant Kumar as we wrap up the coverage of this fixture. Do stay tuned to our network and join us for a lot more cricketing action later in the day.
Nicholas Pooran (Trinbago Knight Riders Captain): "First of all, I want to give God all praise and thanks for this opportunity. Eliminator is an eliminator. It comes up with different energy, a different brand of cricket. As I said at the press conference the other day, the Eliminator is a different display of cricket, with different energies and a different atmosphere in our dressing room.
We know what it takes to play these games, and we've been in this position before. For us, it's all about responsibility and holding each other accountable. Emotions are going to come out, but at the end of the day, we will do everything we need to win this game.
It doesn't really matter. It is about getting the job done. I could have got out on the first ball. And it would have been a different game. Hostile crowd as well. I have captained many teams that have won the titles. We haven't won a title for a few years now. You're always under pressure when you're representing the country. We take pride in doing that. We've been a really successful franchise.
But again, just being here to the end, getting that win, putting this game behind us, and going forward. We want to take every game as it comes, one game at a time. The job is not yet complete, so we want to continue to improve and continue to get better.
If we go out and search for perfection, we put ourselves under pressure and get frustrated. For us, it is all about focusing on ourselves and looking for room for improvement. So, for us as human beings and as players, we need to try to be consistent on and off the field and accept that we are going to have bad days and good days as well. St Lucia and Guyana are going to play tomorrow. We can't control who's going to win. Both have played good cricket this season and are in that position. We are just focusing on ourselves, on how we can get better as individuals and come up with better plans for the next game."
We know what it takes to play these games, and we've been in this position before. For us, it's all about responsibility and holding each other accountable. Emotions are going to come out, but at the end of the day, we will do everything we need to win this game.
It doesn't really matter. It is about getting the job done. I could have got out on the first ball. And it would have been a different game. Hostile crowd as well. I have captained many teams that have won the titles. We haven't won a title for a few years now. You're always under pressure when you're representing the country. We take pride in doing that. We've been a really successful franchise.
But again, just being here to the end, getting that win, putting this game behind us, and going forward. We want to take every game as it comes, one game at a time. The job is not yet complete, so we want to continue to improve and continue to get better.
If we go out and search for perfection, we put ourselves under pressure and get frustrated. For us, it is all about focusing on ourselves and looking for room for improvement. So, for us as human beings and as players, we need to try to be consistent on and off the field and accept that we are going to have bad days and good days as well. St Lucia and Guyana are going to play tomorrow. We can't control who's going to win. Both have played good cricket this season and are in that position. We are just focusing on ourselves, on how we can get better as individuals and come up with better plans for the next game."
Imad Wasim (Antigua & Barbuda Falcons Captain): "The wicket was good, we were probably 20 short. We should gone harder but we played good cricket throughout the tournament. Nicky P (Nicholas Pooran) came out and played incredibly well. We would have still fancied ourself if we got him out early. Last year, we didn't qualify for the play-offs but this year we did. Its a new franchise, new players. Proud of the team.
(Players who impressed him) Karima Gore is a good player, Jewel (Andrew) is another who is playing for the West Indies. (Jayden) Seales, the way he ran in and I am looking forward to seeing him play for the West Indies. Thank you to the Antigua fans and also the fans in Guyana."
(Players who impressed him) Karima Gore is a good player, Jewel (Andrew) is another who is playing for the West Indies. (Jayden) Seales, the way he ran in and I am looking forward to seeing him play for the West Indies. Thank you to the Antigua fans and also the fans in Guyana."
Time for the post-match Presentation!
MOST SIXES IN CPL:
221 - Kieron Pollard
207 - Evin Lewis
201 - Nicholas Pooran*
221 - Kieron Pollard
207 - Evin Lewis
201 - Nicholas Pooran*
Highest Partnership for Trinbago Knight Riders in CPL (for any wicket):
152 for 2nd Wicket - Nicholas Pooran & Jason Roy vs Guyana Amazon Warriors, Providence, 2024
150 for 5th Wicket - Hashim Amla & Dwayne Bravo vs Barbados Tridents, Port of Spain, 2016
143* for 2nd Wicket - Nicholas Pooran & Alex Hales vs Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, Providence, 2025, Tonight*
152 for 2nd Wicket - Nicholas Pooran & Jason Roy vs Guyana Amazon Warriors, Providence, 2024
150 for 5th Wicket - Hashim Amla & Dwayne Bravo vs Barbados Tridents, Port of Spain, 2016
143* for 2nd Wicket - Nicholas Pooran & Alex Hales vs Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, Providence, 2025, Tonight*
Nicholas Pooran (POTM): "First of all, I want to give God all praise and thanks for this opportunity.
It is always good to come out on top. The last couple of seasons haven't ended well for us. We came here to Guyana, and we couldn't get over the lines in the past few seasons. The last couple of days have been disappointing for us as a group, especially coming here to Guyana Tonight. It didn’t matter how we got this win; we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Antigua played a really good match, and the boys came back into the game beautifully. We knew they were going to make it really hard for us. I am happy with the rest as we could get over the line.
In big matches, players try to be in the moment as much as possible, and when some decisions don't go your way, you can feel a bit emotional. Tonight was tough to keep emotions in check. I apologise to the umpire (Ryan Banwarie) at the end of the game, but I'm just really happy that we could get the win.
I have put in a lot of hard work throughout this tournament. Good to be batting back at number 3. I have been told to bat at three tonight. I've been digging deep throughout the innings, and tonight, I'm got the opportunity to bat three. As a leader, you have to get out there and lead from the front. Tonight it was my day with the bat. I could have easily got out on the first ball. It is not about hitting from the word go. That's what we keep speaking about: taking responsibility, and the game is all about being brave and smart. Tonight was just our day.
Yeah, Alex Hales batted very well. We haven't clicked as a batting unit in the last few games, but it's really nice that we could stitch a partnership together. Hales is a class player. Even Munro, the way he set the tone early was important. We won this game by nine wickets, giving us a big boost as well."
It is always good to come out on top. The last couple of seasons haven't ended well for us. We came here to Guyana, and we couldn't get over the lines in the past few seasons. The last couple of days have been disappointing for us as a group, especially coming here to Guyana Tonight. It didn’t matter how we got this win; we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Antigua played a really good match, and the boys came back into the game beautifully. We knew they were going to make it really hard for us. I am happy with the rest as we could get over the line.
In big matches, players try to be in the moment as much as possible, and when some decisions don't go your way, you can feel a bit emotional. Tonight was tough to keep emotions in check. I apologise to the umpire (Ryan Banwarie) at the end of the game, but I'm just really happy that we could get the win.
I have put in a lot of hard work throughout this tournament. Good to be batting back at number 3. I have been told to bat at three tonight. I've been digging deep throughout the innings, and tonight, I'm got the opportunity to bat three. As a leader, you have to get out there and lead from the front. Tonight it was my day with the bat. I could have easily got out on the first ball. It is not about hitting from the word go. That's what we keep speaking about: taking responsibility, and the game is all about being brave and smart. Tonight was just our day.
Yeah, Alex Hales batted very well. We haven't clicked as a batting unit in the last few games, but it's really nice that we could stitch a partnership together. Hales is a class player. Even Munro, the way he set the tone early was important. We won this game by nine wickets, giving us a big boost as well."
Player of the Match: Nicholas Pooran
08:54 AM IST, 11:24 PM Local Time: What a statement win from the Trinbago Knight Riders as they beat Antigua & Barbuda Falcons by 9 wickets and 15 balls to spare to make it to the Qualifier 2. When the team needed, the TKR skipper stepped up with a sensational 90* (53) while Alex Hales produced a cracking 54* (40)
Chasing 167 for victory, Colin Munro didn’t find the middle of the bat regularly and ended up holing out to deep mid-wicket off Rahkeem Cornwall with Kevin Wickham taking a superb catch. After a quiet fifth over, Hales got stuck into Cornwall as he smashed three sixes to help TKR get to 59/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
It seemed like Obed McCoy removed Nicholas Pooran off his very
first delivery but the batter opted for the DRS and over-turned umpire Ryan
Banwarie’s decision. Pooran had a few words at the umpire as well as things started
to heat up in the Eliminator. With the Falcons’ bowlers being inconsistent, the
duo of Hales and Pooran ensured that TKR continued to sail smoothly with the
team getting to 95/1 at the half-way mark.
Umpire Banwarie was at the center of attraction once again in the 12th over when he gave Pooran out against Cornwall. However, once again, Pooran over-turned the on-field decision. A couple of overs later, Pooran struck a maximum off Cornwall to register his 16th CPL fifty. The southpaw struck another six at the end of the over too to bring up the 100-run stand with Hales. Pooran went into over-drive after that as he took 17 runs off the 15th over bowled by Shakib.
In the next over, Hales also made a timely return to form by registering his 3rd CPL fifty. Pooran also brought up another milestone as he became only the 3rd player to strike 200 maximums in the CPL. Eventually, he smashed Jayden Seales for the eighth maximum of his innings to seal the game with more than two overs to spare.
Earlier in the match, Rahkeem Cornwall's poor form with the bat continued as he fell cheaply. The duo of Amir Jangoo and Andries Gous joined forces to take the Falcons to 44/1 at the end of the Powerplay. However, only 20 runs came off the next four overs as they headed to 64/1 at the half-way mark of the innings.
Both the batters got a move on even though it was a touch too late before registering their fifties in the 15th over. TKR still needed a breakthrough and it was Usman Tariq who broke the 108-run partnership. In fact, Tariq removed both Jangoo and Gous in the space of three deliveries to rock the Falcons.
At the start of the 18th over, the Falcons' skipper Imad Wasim was sent back too with Sunil Narine surpassing Dwayne Bravo to become the leading wicket-taker of the CPL. All of a sudden, Shakib Al Hasan took on Narine from his second delivery itself as he smashed three boundaries and a maximum to finish the over. However, TKR came back strongly with Saurabh Netravalkar delivering a great penultimate over which saw him take two wickets and concede just six runs. The final over was also eventful with Andre Russell getting a couple of wickets but Usama Mir and Shakib got a boundary each to help the Falcons finish with a fighting 166/8.
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