TRINBAGO Knight Riders, playing in their sixth final, beat the Guyana Amazon Warriors by three wickets last night at Providence in a low-scoring but entertaining final of the Republic Bank CPL T20 tournament to claim their fifth title.

This is the third time the two have been involved in a final. TKR won in 2018 at the Brian Lara Academy before the Warriors won in 2023 at Providence.
Iftikhar Ahmed top-scored with 30, which included three fours and a six.

Ahmed featured in a 43-run sixth-wicket stand with Dwaine Pretorius, whose 25 included a four and two sixes.
Ben McDermott scored 28 with three fours and a six, but no other batter reached 15, as the Warriors used up 58 ‘dot balls’ in 130-8 in 20 overs.
Saurabh Netravalkar (3-25) and Akeal Hosein (2-26) were the main wicket-takers, but all the TKR bowlers had frugal spells.

TKR reached 133-7 with 12 balls to spare, as four batters scored 20s, and the Man-of-the-Match Akeal Hosein finished the game with a six and a four in an unbeaten 16.
Skipper Imran Tahir had 3-34 to end 23 scalps, the most in the tournament. Shamar Joseph and Dwaine Pretorius had two wickets each.
When TKR began their chase, needing 6.5 runs per over to lift their first title in the Warriors’ backyard, Romario Shepherd conceded 22 in the second over as Colin Munroe caressed him for three boundaries. Shepherd’s bowling has regressed and bowled nine wides in the over, one of which beat the Keeper and went for five wides.
Munroe (23) edged Pretorius to the Keeper at 33-1 in the fourth over. When Nicholas Pooran (1) provided Pretorius with another wicket six runs later, the crowd was back on its feet and the atmosphere was absolutely fantastic.

The 50 came up in 49 balls before Darren Bravo (11) was lbw to Imran Tahir at 62-3.
Pacer, Joseph removed Sunil Narine (22) at 89-4 with 43 needed from 43, and the well-set Hales at the crease.
Pollard hit Tahir for three consecutive sixes, and the fans started walking out on their team.
The 46-year-old Tahir bowled Pollard (22) and Andre Russell (0) at 114-6 to be on a hat-trick.
Hales (26) was caught and bowled by Joseph at 116-7, and the pendulum was swinging back in the Warriors’ favour.
However, Hosein (16) finished the contest by dumping Motie for a six and a four. With him was Keacy Carty on one.
Earlier, in 11 matches in this edition of the CPL, the Warriors had reached 40 in any of their opening stands.
Last night was no different.

The Warriors elected to bat on a good track, and Quinton Sampson (0) was struck on his gloves by a Russell bouncer in the first over.
The analytical planning for Sampson worked perfectly. Pollard went to short leg as Russell bowled another short ball.
Sampson fended as a diving Pollard completed the catch to leave the Warriors on 3-1.
McDermott pulled Russell for four, and thumped Hosein for a couple of fours and a humongous six in an over which leaked 16 runs. The sea of green-and-red in the stands erupted into a tsunami.

With the score on 41 in the fifth over, left-arm pacer Netravalkar dismissed McDermott.
The 50 came from 44 balls, and when Hosien bowled Hope, the tournament’s leading scorer (491) for 12 at 53-3, the ‘Trini’ contingent in the partisan capacity crowd were waving their national flags and dancing to the pulsating rhythm of the Tassa drums.

Usman Tariq bowled Moin Ali (10) at 59-4 in the 11th over, and the Warriors were in shambles.
With Hope suffering a rare failure, it was up to Guyana’s most talked-about cricketer, Shimron Hetmyer, to step up.
But the left-handed Berbician, with just three double-figure scores, including three ducks, struggled to get the ball away.
Hetmyer fell to Hosein for four from 13 balls after trying to hit a six, and was caught at long-on to leave the Warriors on 65-5, and silence the crowd that included President Dr. Irfaan Ali and several members of his Cabinet.

Pretorius and Ahmed orchestrated ‘Operation Rebuild’ against a disciplined TKR bowling attack.
The Warriors brought up 100 from 102 balls as TKR tightened the screws on the Warriors in their eighth final with a single title to show for it.
Netravalkar broke the 43-run stand by removing Pretorius, who hit a four and six in 25, as the Warriors slumped to 108-6.
Netravalkar removed Ahmed (30) when taken at long-off by the 38-year-old Pollard, who held his 400th catch and fourth for the night.
Shepherd (12) was run out off the last ball of the 20th over.