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| Umar Akmal hit seven sixes and three fours during his unbeaten 73 off 35 balls |
With
Trinbago Knight Riders staring at the prospect of heading to the final leg of
the CPL season in Florida with their playoff hopes in jeopardy, Umar Akmal's brilliant
fightback secured a crucial three-wicket win over St Lucia Zouks to draw Knight
Riders level with the Zouks on eight points in a tie for third. This meant that
Barbados Tridents were pushed back to fifth place with two games to play. Akmal
struck an unbeaten 73 off 35 balls in Knight Riders' chase of 168 having dug
his side out of a deep hole at 63 for 5 in the 10th over.
Zouks were well placed to defend
their total after the fall of Anton Devcich for 25 in the 15th to end a 51-run
stand, leaving Knight Riders needing 50 off the last five overs with four
wickets in hand. Only four runs were scored in the 16th to further tilt the
scales in favour of Zouks but Akmal swung things back Trinbago's way in the
17th when he targetted Jerome Taylor for three straight sixes and a four,
bringing up his fifty off 27 balls. Akmal's fireworks reduced the equation to
23 off 18 balls.
Shane Watson then pinned Sunil
Narine down for three dots, but could not sustain the pressure and Narine ended
the over by bashing two sixes to make it 9 off 12 balls. Narine fell in the
19th over but Kevon Cooper hit the winning runs two balls later to clinch
victory with six balls to spare.
Having been inserted, Zouks had
powered to a strong start with Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher notching 58
in the first seven overs. Charles was fortunate after having been dropped in
the first over on 1 off Ronsford Beaton and was reprieved again on 11 in the
fourth over when replays showed Devcich had overstepped after having Charles
caught by Dwayne Bravo at mid-off.
Fletcher was run-out in the eighth
over for 25 and Charles' luck ran out 10 balls later when Bravo claimed him for
27. From there, Zouks struggled to regain the flow to their innings until
Darren Sammy's arrival in the 16th after Grant Elliott was removed for 12.
Sammy clubbed Cooper for four and six in the 18th to spur a late surge, and
then bashed two more fours and a six off the final seven balls of Zouks'
innings to finish 37 not out off 18 balls. However, his spectacular form the
stadium renamed in his honour could not extend the hosts' winning run, with
Akmal halting it at three games.
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