Trinbago vs Royals, 13th Match at Bridgetown, CPL 2023, Aug 30 2023 - Match Result

That's all we have for you from this match. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. This is Rvel Zahid signing off on the behalf of Binoy George. Goodnight and take care!

Knight Riders have convincingly routed the Royals, making it look like a walk in the park. Pollard and Bravo are all smiles; it's truly an exceptional performance from them with both bat and ball. They hardly put a foot wrong, and this resounding win will surely give their net run rate a significant boost. It's just the kind of win they would have aimed for at the beginning of the third week. Only Holder, Powell, and Ahmad managed to reach double figures; the rest of the scorecard looks rather dismal. Waqar Salamkheil had a dream debut, grabbing four wickets, while Russell triggered panic with three crucial scalps, dismissing Cornwall in the first delivery of the innings. Hosein took two wickets, and Narine chipped in with one as well. Earlier, Guptill turned back the clock with a scintillating century and put his team in a strong position.

The climbing required rate was a constant headache and Royals had no answer to it. It's a recurring problem for them. They don't seem to recover well if the top-order crashes in the powerplay. There weren't many partnerships in the middle and no rebuilding after early loss of wickets. Royals would like to put this defeat behind them and bounce back strongly as the tournament quickly progresses towards its defining stages. As a result of this thumping win, Knight Riders have jumped to the third spot, while Royals are precariously languishing at the fifth spot

Kieron Pollard, Knight Riders Captain: I must commend the guys, the way they fought back in the last couple of games. Especially today, Martin, the way he batted, he was looking for some runs and struggling a bit and I think the team is very very happy that he was able to score a hundred in this innings. You have to respect cricket and respect bowlers. When I came in Qais Ahmad was bowling pretty well, he was spinning the ball from middle and leg and wanted me to go across the line to the bigger side, I just restrained myself, I think I was trying to hit the ball too hard but Guptill kept taking pressure off and it was a matter of rotating (strike) and getting my eye in, try to capitalize at backend. When planning comes together, you feel happy as captain. We sat and decided to drop our main fast bowlers to play Waqar and Tom Curran, and he repaid the faith. Thanks to the fans who continue to travel. Crowd is our 12th man. It's the holiday season...we try to entertain the fans

Rovman Powell, Royals Captain: So far we have played three games, and we had to chase 190 plus in all those. We need to have better bowling plans. (About Qais going for plenty in his last over), We know (Pollard struggles) against leg spin but sometimes it doesn't work according to plan. There was a lot of moisture on ground so I think it was the right decision to bowl. Credit to Guptill, he batted pretty well on a good wicket. Senior guys need to score runs. Youngsters will contribute but seniors guys need to stand up and score runs 70 to 80. Crowd was fantastic, hope that will continue for the rest of the games. All I ask guys is to improve by just 10-15 % tomorrow and that is good. The support today was fantastic, hopefully that continues for the rest of the games