Pooran, Hales light up Eliminator as TKR soar past Falcons

Trinbago Knight Riders comfortably saw off the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in the Eliminator of CPL 2025 to seal their berth for Qualifier 2. After the Falcons put on a score of 166 for 8, the Knight Riders eased through the chase to seal the win with nine wickets and 2.3 overs to spare. Nicholas Pooran (90*) and Alex Hales (54*) put on an undefeated 143-run stand for the second wicket to coast to victory.

With the Falcons put in to bat first, Amir Jangoo took on the left-arm spin off Akeal Hosein with some caressed drives for four and slog-sweeps for six. But Rahkeem Cornwall fell to Saurabh Netravalkar as the Knight Riders began to apply pressure with some quiet overs through Sunil Narine in the PowerPlay. Andries Gous and Jangoo were able to find the boundaries on the odd occasion but ate up too many balls in between as the Falcons were only 64 for 1 after the first 10 overs.

With nine wickets in hand, they showed their first signs of acceleration as the batting duo scored 19 runs off Andre Russell. Jangoo then brought out the slog-sweep over deep mid-wicket off Narine as the Falcons were on the brink of the 100 mark. Both batters brought up their 50 in the 15th over having laid a solid foundation of a 108-run stand for a blitz at the death. But both batters fell to Usman Tariq in the 16th over within three balls to bring the Knight Riders right back in the contest.

Narine scalped Imad Wasim to become the highest wicket-taker in CPL history before Shakib al Hasan scored 4,4,4, and a six to finish the 18th over which yielded 18 runs. But the Knight Riders kept chipping away at the wickets as Netravalkar picked up two in the 19th over. Russell picked up two more wickets in the last over as the Falcons hard work at the top had been undone at the death barring Shakib's cameo of a nine-ball 26.

In response, Hales creamed Jayden Seales in the second over for back-to-back boundaries. Colin Munro did the same feat but fell to Cornwall as the Falcons picked up an early wicket. But that was the only piece of joy the Falcons could muster as the rest of the chase was dominated by the Knight Riders. Out walked Pooran and he slog-swept Cornwall for six to end the over. But Cornwall's second over was where the Knight Riders did all the damage. Hales smashed him for 20 runs including three sixes as TKR began to rule the roost of the chase.

Pooran made Usama Mir pay for some dragdowns as TKR raced to 95 for 1 at the halfway stage of their innings. The southpaw even survived two LBW calls through the recourse of DRS. The 11th to 13th over saw only nine runs scored but two sixes by Pooran off Cornwall saw the Knight Riders skipper bring up his 16th CPL fifty. He scored two sixes and a four off Shakib as they raced to 142 for 1 at the end of the 15th over. Hales brought up his 50, his third in the CPL before Pooran added two more sixes to complete the win for the Knight Riders.

Brief Scores:Antigua and Barbuda Falcons 166/8 in 20 overs (Andries Gous 61, Amir Jangoo 55; Saurabh Netravalkar 3-23, Usman Tariq 2-19) lost to Trinbago Knight Riders 168/1 in 17.3 overs (Nicholas Pooran 90*, Alex Hales 54*; Rahkeem Cornwall 1-50) by 9 wickets