‘Sent a message out to the guys to have a crack’ - Faf du Plessis on St Lucia Kings’ phenomenal comeback to win CPL 2024

Chasing 139 runs against Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Lucia Kings were reduced to 51/4 at one stage. They were under immense pressure, especially when 66 runs were needed in the last five overs. The match seemed to be sipping out of St Lucia’s reach but that’s when Roston Chase and Aaron Jones wreaked havoc to win the game with 11 deliveries remaining. 

Chase smashed 39* runs off 22 balls while USA international Aaron Jones played an unbeaten knock of 48 runs off 31 deliveries. They stitched a partnership of 88 runs and won St Lucia the much-awaited trophy, which is also their first CPL win in history. 

Meanwhile, after the game, captain Faf du Plessis analysed that the match was drifting away at one point and that’s when he sent a message to Roston and Aaron, advising them to change gears and not to leave it late. Both cricketers went on to play aggressively and helped St Lucia win the match by six wickets. Meanwhile, the captain also lauded his other teammates for stepping up from time to time.

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“I thought the game was drifting away from us and when the rate was creeping up, we thought we couldn't leave it for too late, so we sent a message out to the guys to have a crack and then they started playing some great shots. The group of guys here, no superstars, we had different guys putting their hand up at different stages of the competition, so as a team, I am really extremely proud of the guys. There was excitement at the start of the competition in St Lucia about is this gonna be the season. First CPL trophy and it is a great achievement,” Faf said in the post-match presentation.

Tough luck today, somethings didn't go our way: Imran Tahir

Guyana Amazon Warriors captain Imran Tahir reflected that are certain things that didn’t go their way on the night of the final. He noted that the team kept losing wickets while batting, which put them under pressure and that in the end was the difference between the two sides. However, he was happy with how his players turned up in the entire season.

“We didn't start well with the bat and kept losing wickets, and didn't get enough score in the end, that was the only fault I could see. But we had an excellent tournament, tough luck today, somethings didn't go our way. A few LBWs didn't hit the stumps. We had a little idea about it, 170-180 would have been a good score, we bowled really well as a group but one over took the game away from us,” Tahir said.