TKR power hitting makes franchise title contenders

FOUR-TIME winners of the Hero Caribbean Premier League T20 tournament Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) will be hunting another crown in the 2022 edition.

TKR will open their campaign on Thursday against St Lucia Kings at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts, at 10 am.

If the matches were played on paper, TKR are clearly the frontrunners to capture the title with the batting line-up, especially a formidable one.

A weak area in the TKR team may be their inexperienced fast bowling, with the likes of Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales still developing their skills in T20 cricket. Ali Khan has been a solid performer for TKR, but he has not been among the wickets regularly over the last two seasons.

Dwayne Bravo led the pace bowling attack for TKR, before joining St Kitts and Nevis Patriots last year.

Pollard at the helm

Kieron Pollard will again captain the TT franchise despite Nicholas Pooran rejoining TKR.

Some expected Pooran to be named TKR captain as he is now the West Indies 'white-ball' captain.

In a media conference on Tuesday, Pollard said Pooran has had an intense few months with West Indies as captain and will be given time to focus on other areas of the game.

Pollard’s power hitting and medium pace will again be pivotal to TKR’s success.

Pollard has led TKR to the pinnacle in the past as he was the captain in the championship winning team of 2020, TKR’s last CPL title.

Dre Russ adds more firepower

TKR have added more fire power to their line-up as Andre Russell will debut for the TT franchise.

Russell, who is also a useful fast-medium pacer, will be in form heading into the CPL after showing his destructive nature with the bat during the just concluded SKYEXCH 6ixty tournament.

Russell slammed 72 off only 24 balls against Patriots on Saturday. His knock included eight sixes and five fours.

Russell’s move from Jamaica Tallawahs should not come as a surprise as the Jamaican has been part of TKR’s brother franchise Kolkata Knight Riders for years.

Russell has had some memorable performances in the CPL. In 2018, he became just the second player in T20 cricket to score a century and grab a hat-trick in the same match.

He achieved that memorable feat against TKR as a Tallawahs player.

Russell’s leadership qualities will also be an asset as he has been playing franchise cricket around the world.

Pooran returns to TKR

Nicholas Pooran will return to TKR, the team he first made a name for himself when he was 17.

Pooran just needed one match to demonstrate his talent scoring a half century in his first CPL match in 2013 as a member of TKR (then called TT Red Steel).

Pooran will add more depth to TKR’s batting especially with his ability to clear the boundary with ease.

He is also expected to provide leadership as the West Indies 50-over and T20 captain.

Pooran represented TKR for the first two seasons of the CPL, before playing for the Barbados Royals (Tridents at the time) and Guyana Amazon Warriors.

Pooran has also shown his quality as a fielder and if not chosen to be the wicket-keeper should make a difference in the field. Pooran or Tim Seifert will be behind the stumps during the tournament.

Munro to deliver at the top

Colin Munro of New Zealand has been a rock for TKR at the top of the batting order for years.

Many of TKR’s blistering starts over the years have been because of Munro.

In 2018, Munro was the player of the series scoring 567 runs at an average of 51.54. He cracked six half centuries and ended the tournament with a strike rate of 140.34 to help guide TKR to their third title.

Hosein expected to lead spin attack

Akeal Hosein has produced the goods for TKR in the past and his sudden rise in international cricket should give him confidence heading into the CPL.

The left-arm spinner has been the most consistent bowler for West Indies over the past few months in T20 and 50-over series. West Indies played against Bangladesh, India and New Zealand during a busy period for the regional team.

Hosein has shown his quality with the bat also and, despite his slim physique, can clear the fence.

Economical spinner, batsman Narine

In recent years, Sunil Narine has not been the most consistent wicket-taker for TKR, but he is still one of the most economical bowlers in the game.

He showed glimpses of that during the 6ixty as he made scoring challenging for batsmen.

Narine, who has opened the batting for TKR for years with mixed results, will attempt to get the TT franchise off to a lightning start.