Green's exciting spell helps Royals beat TKR

Barbados Royals beat Trinbago Knight Riders by seven wickets, thanks in part to Chris Green's exciting spell of bowling (3/7). It took 19 overs for the already-qualified TKR to get to 166 for 8. Quinton de Kock and Kadeem Alleyne got things off to a great start, while captain Rovman Powell finished things off in style. This loss gives TKR 12 points for the league stage. Guyana Amazon Warriors are now fourth with 8 points from 8 games and can still match TKR's total; therefore, their finish in the top two will depend on the results of their last two games.

During the PowerPlay, Green was amazing. He got Colin Munro out in the second over of TKR's innings, which was a wicket-maiden. In his next, he got rid of Alex Hales and threw four dots. Rovman Powell trusted the spinner to finish the PowerPlay with his third over, and the Aussie did. He got Nicholas Pooran out in four runs, leaving TKR with only 34 runs in the PowerPlay. Green got out straight after the PowerPlay, taking his third wicket in his fourth over to end with amazing numbers of 3 for 7, including 18 dots.

Pooran and Kieron Pollard then teamed up for a key 71-run partnership. It all started when Pollard went after Zishan Motara, a 19-year-old offspinner who was making his first appearance in the league. Pollard hit him for three sixes in a 20-run over, and TKR went to 67 for 4 in 10 overs. Pollard and Pooran had a hard time finding boundaries during Sherfane Rutherford, Daniel Sams, Ramon Simmonds, and Eathan Bosch's four tight overs. But TKR scored 73 runs in the last six overs. It started when Pollard broke free in the 15th over against Sams and took 12 runs off it.

In the 16th over, Simmonds let up 12 runs, but he also got rid of Pollard, who scored 36 runs off 25 balls. Even though 11 runs were scored in the 17th over, Bosch did a good job of keeping Pooran and Andre Russell from getting to the ball. In the next two overs, Sams and Simmonds only let up seven runs each and got rid of Russell and Sunil Narine, respectively. This put TKR on track for a total of less than 150. Rutherford got Pooran out on the first ball of the 20th over, but Akeal Hosein came out swinging for the sky and hammered one four and three sixes in a row to end the innings with a 24-run over that brought the team to 166 for 8.

In the first over, Alleyne and de Kock went after Hosein, and they set up the chase with a flying start in the PowerPlay. For that, they went for Saurabh Netravalkar's two overs and got to 62 for 0 in 6 overs. The partnership lasted until the ninth over, when Hosein got Alleyne out and ended it. De Kock kept going and hit a fifty off 31 balls as the Royals reached 97 for 1 in 10 overs. In the 13th over, Usman Tariq got rid of de Kock, and in the 15th, he got rid of Rassie van der Dussen. This left the Royals needing 49 runs in the last five overs. Pollard bowled a tight over to put pressure on Russell, but Powell hit Russell hard in the 16th, taking 18 runs off it. Netravalkar came back and bowled a great over, giving up only six runs when the Royals needed 27 runs in 18 balls. But Powell led his team to victory by hitting Pollard for four sixes in the second-to-last over.

Trinbago Knight Riders scored 166 runs in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 45, Kieron Pollard 36, Akeal Hosein 23*; Chris Green 3-9, Daniel Sams 2-25) and lost to Barbados Royals, who scored 172 runs in 19 overs (Quinton de Kock 55, Kadeem Alleyne 36; Usman Tariq 2-23) by 7 wickets.