Patriots vs Trinbago, Eliminator at Providence, CPL, Oct 06 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary

2:53 pm That wraps it up from the first game in today's doubleheader. Shashank Kishore has already started coverage for the first qualifying final between the undefeated Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents, with the toss moments away. I'll be joining him later on commentary. Thanks for joining coverage of this match and be sure to flip over to that one to stay locked into the CPL doubleheader. For Deiva Muthu, I'm Peter Della Penna. Take care!

Patriots captain Carlos Brathwaite: "I felt we were a bit timid to start. We wanted to be conservative and keep wickets in hand but I think we went too much in the opposite direction. Sunil is a world-class player but I think we showed him a little bit too much respect. It was a lack of momentum. Unfortunately that was one of our better bowling performances but we just didn't have enough runs to bowl at."

TKR captain Kieron Pollard: "We've been striving for this victory for the last two and a half weeks. We thought bowling first and restricting them to 123 should have been an easy walk but they made it difficult. I just want to thank the Guyana crowd for cheering me on. If I'm honest, that was exactly how not to chase 126 runs. Just too many dot balls. If a bowler is hitting a length, you have got to try moving around the crease and throw him off his length. You have to try something and do it differently. Having said that, they were experienced batters out there. There's things we need to work on as West Indian batsmen in terms of rotating the strike a lot more and it is something that has kept us back. In this game, people around the Caribbean can see what we need to work on."

Sunil Narine is Player of the Match: "[Bowling] was a little painful but I must give thanks to God for giving me the courage and motivation. We have a great support staff that has been treating me for the last week and a half so I must give thanks to them as well. I think [the pitch] helped the spinners a bit so it helped me in a way so that I didn't have to put too much pressure on the finger that was giving me problems. I think it was a total team effort. We needed this one. We get to play at home now so that's even more comfortable and we have the fans backing us. I'm leaving it up to the medical staff and the man above to give me the strength and courage to hopefully play one more and if we win, to the finals."

So Knight Riders have broken their six-match winless streak and will now face the loser of the upcoming qualifier between Barbados Tridents and Guyana Amazon Warriors. Crucially, that second qualifier match for TKR will be on home soil at Brian Lara Stadium on Thursday where they'll have a huge home crowd behind them.

2:34 pm TKR looked heavy favorites at the innings break but were struggling midway through the chase with Ramdin in particular soaking up a high number of dot balls. But Pollard is gonna make everyone wonder what all the fuss was about with a blistering cameo to keep the defending champs alive.

Back over the stumps.

Brathwaite goes around the wicket to Pollard now with TKR needing less than a run a ball now.

Anand: "Surprised to see not a single over from Hafeez on a slowish pitch which would rightly suit him.. Carlos missed a trick for sure." Definitely contrasting strategies here. TKR went spin heavy, only 7 overs of pace bowled in their innings. Patriots will have bowled out 3 pace bowlers with just 8 overs of spin.

Emrit to bowl the 18th. Cottrell and Brathwaite each have one left.

18-run over has put TKR back in control after the fall of Simmons, needing just 27 off 18.

Around the stumps now.

Cottrell is back.