Either side of the rain, which cut St. Lucia Zouks’ innings to 17.1 overs and left Trinbago Knight Riders only nine overs to bat, the Bravo brothers took the match by its collar and ensured a comfortable Knight Riders victory.
Dwayne Bravo took his 500th T20 wicket en route to extraordinary figures of 2 for 7 off three overs, before Darren Bravo hit 23 not out off 13 balls to help the Knight Riders to their target of 72 off nine overs, with a full over to spare. The victory maintains the Knight Riders’ four-match winning streak, while handing the second-placed Zouks their second loss in five games.
Dwayne Bravo ploughs through a milestone
No other bowler has got even 400 T20 wickets, and yet here was Dwayne Bravo taking his 500th. Easily one of the top five cricketers in this format, he set the tone for this game with his opening spell, from which Zouks never recovered. Dwayne claimed two wickets – having Rakheem Cornwall caught, before bowling Roston Chase. But almost more importantly, he also only conceded five runs from those two overs, delivering seven dot balls – including the two wickets – and conceding only singles from the remaining deliveries. Dwayne returned for a third over, and was arguably even better at the death. He conceded only two singles from the 17th over.
Darren Bravo propels Knight Riders across the line
Although 72 from nine overs seemed initially like a cakewalk, Zouks did muster some sort of fight with the ball, taking the first four wickets off the first 3.3 overs of the innings to leave Knight Riders at 34 for 4. Darren Bravo would ensure Dwayne’s work with the ball would not be for nothing, though, hitting 23 off 13 balls to drive the Knight Riders home. In the course of that knock, he hit his 100th CPL six – one of those shots launched so far that it landed on the stadium roof and a new ball had to be called for.
Nabi’s all-round show
Zouks seemed to be in arrears for the majority of this match, but the man who was most relentlessly dragging them towards parity was Mohammad Nabi. He hit 30 not out off 22 with the bat, and later claimed the wicket of Llendl Simmons with the second ball of the Knight Riders’ innings. He would go on to concede a six and a four to Colin Munro later in that over, and would finish with figures of 1 for 15 from two overs. Without Nabi, Zouks’ loss would have been even more stark, however.