Shamsi leads spinners' show to thump Knight Riders as Kings make playoffs
Tim Seifert and Ackeem Auguste led the chase of 110, as Kings topped the table and ended TKR's winning streak
ESPNcricinfo staff
04-Sep-2025 • 6 hrs ago
Tabraiz Shamsi picked up a three-for • Getty Images
St Lucia Kings 112 for 3 (Seifert 36, Narine 2-28) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 109 (Pooran 30, Shamsi 3-12, Potgieter 2-6, Chase 2-19, Pierre 2-31) by seven wickets
The St Lucia Kings spinners Tabraiz Shamsi, Roston Chase and Khary Pierre shared seven wickets to bundle Trinbago Knight Riders for 109 and set up a commanding seven-wicket win in Tarouba. Victory took Kings into the playoffs of CPL 2025.
Tim Seifert, Ackeem Auguste, Chase and Tim David made sure the chase was wrapped up at the start of the 12th over to give their net run rate a big boost with their fourth win in a row that placed them on top of the points table. Their streak also ended TKR's hot run of five wins in a row as they lost the top spot after the game.
Pierre struck on the second ball of the match after Kings opted to bowl. He had Colin Munro caught for a duck off a delivery which kept a little low. In the third over, Darren Bravo chipped Pierre to short fine leg for 11, before captain Nicholas Pooran staged a brief recovery.
But once Chase had Hales bowled for 9 to end the powerplay, Kings began to slide. Forty for 2 soon became 59 for 5 by the end of ten overs. Shamsi cleaned up Akeal Hosein with a wrong 'un first ball while Chase, who ended with 2 for 19, had Pooran caught behind albeit with help from DRS. After Pooran's knock of 30 off 27, no TKR batter managed to cross 20.
Keiron Pollard and Andre Russell were TKR's biggest hopes if they were to reach a respectable total. But Shamsi had both batters bowled with his deceptive turn to finish with 3 for 12 without conceding a single boundary in his four overs. Nathan Edward and Terrance Hinds took TKR past 100, but Delano Potgieter and Alzarri Joseph wrapped the tail up to leave Kings only 110 to win.
Seifert came out firing first ball. He swept Hosein for six, before cutting and punching him for fours in the first over that went for 14. TKR removed Seifert's partner Johnson Charles for 1 to end the second over; but by then, Seifert had crashed 25 off ten deliveries. Two quiet overs followed before Auguste and Seifert ensured TKR's momentum was short lived.
The two batters doubled the score in the last two overs of the powerplay, which ended with Kings at 66 for 1. Usman Tariq, though, ended the fun for Kings in the seventh over when he had Seifert caught at deep midwicket for 36 from 19 balls. Next over, Sunil Narine trapped Auguste for an attacking 28, but Chase, who hit Tariq for three fours in the ninth over, and David took Kings home with 53 balls to spare.