CPL 2020: Match 1, Trinbago Knight Riders vs Guyana Amazon Warriors – Narine's rare double, Pollard goes past Gayle and more stats

Trinbago Knight Riders edged over the Guyana Amazon Warriors by four wickets during the rain-affected opening match of CPL’s 8th edition. Shimron Hetmyer’s unbeaten 63-run knock off 44 balls helped the last season’s runners-up to post 144/5 in the restricted 17 overs. Sunil Narine stole the show with the bat after an economical spell of 2/19 in his four overs. Opening the batting, Narine smashed four sixes during his 28-ball 50. His knock helped TKR reach 100 in the 11th over itself and chase down the target with two balls to spare despite losing three wickets in the last three overs.

All the statistical highlights from the opening game of the CPL 2020 between Trinidad and Guyana:

TKR gets off to a winning start:

4-0 – Trinbago Knight Riders have won a CPL season’s first match for the 4th consecutive time. They defeat the St Lucia Stars during their first match of the 2017 and 2018 editions while St Kitts and Nevis Patriots lost to TKR in the 2019 CPL opener.

Trinbago team did win their first match of the 2014 edition against Barbados Tridents but lost to Guyana and St Lucia teams in their first appearances of the 2013 and 2016 tournaments respectively. Trinbago’s first match of the 2015 CPL against the St Lucia Zouks ended without a result.

Guyana’s losing streak in Tarouba:

4 – Guyana Amazon Warriors now has lost each of their previous four CPL matches at the Tarouba’s Brian Lara Stadium. Guyana got the better of Jamaica Tallawahs in their first CPL match here during the 2017 edition but suffered defeats in the hands of the hosts at this venue four times in a row and also against Tridents in the final of 2019 edition.

A rare all-round double for Narine:

4 – Sunil Narine is now only the 4th player in the history of CPL to score 50+ runs while opening the innings and also claim multiple wickets in the same match. Chris Gayle (51 & 2/24 vs TKR) in 2013, Shane Watson (55 & 3/36 vs SKNP) in 2016 and Rakheem Cornwall (78* & 2/30 vs BT) in 2017 are the other three players to have picked up multiple wickets in CPL matches where they scored fifties as openers.

7 – Narine’s 50-run knock in this match is only his 2nd fifty in the CPL. Sunil’s first fifty in this league came during 2017 edition also for TKR when he scored 79 against the Barbados Tridents at Queen’s Park Oval. Sunil Narine now has seven fifties in the Twenty20 format with three of them coming in the IPL and two more in the BPL.

Pollard goes past Gayle:

71 – The Tuesday’s match was the 71st game as captain for Kieron Pollard in the Caribbean Premier League. He now becomes the most capped captain in the history of CPL surpassing Chris Gayle’s 70 appearances as captain.

A mixed day with records for Tahir:

34 – Imran Tahir is now the leading wicket-taker among the overseas players in the CPL. With the two wickets in this match, Tahir went past his country-mate Tabraiz Shamsi’s tally of 33 wickets in the league.

40 – The 40 runs conceded by Imran Tahir in this game are the most he conceded in any of the 22 matches he played in the CPL. Tahir did not concede more than 33 runs in his previous 21 appearances in this league.

However, during the last season game also against TKR, the leg-spinner conceded 32 runs in three overs he bowled. It was the only time Tahir didn’t complete his four overs quota and the only other instance he conceded runs at an economy rate of 10+ runs.