Hero CPL: Terrifying Tallawahs to tackle Knight Riders today

Trinbago Knight Riders won the first game versus St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by 11 runs at Queen’s Park Oval. Kieron Pollard’s men will next face the Jamaica Tallawahs at the very venue. Overall, the Tallawahs have dominated the Knights.
Out of seven games in Port of Spain, Jamaica have beaten TKR four times. The Knights won’t forget what Andre Russell did to them last time in Trinidad.

Dre-Russ got a hat-trick and decimated the hosts with a 49-ball 121 in a run-chase of 224. In their last three meetings in Trinidad, the Tallawahs chased down targets.
This time, they also have Chris Gayle in their ranks and the batting-unit looks a scary prospect for the opponents. However, TKR will be looking to park aside the past miseries against Jamaica and take the field with a positive mindset.
The home team is likely to go in with an unchanged lineup. The Knights batting faltered at the top last time around. All of Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine and Tion Webster got out cheaply and the trio will be looking for a better show.
Dinesh Ramdin showed maturity and held the innings together for nearly 15 overs. James Neesham couldn’t get fluency in his knock, though the southpaw got 33 runs.
Kieron Pollard looked in good touch and that’s a positive sign for the Knights. But the team didn’t get many runs in the last three overs, something it needs to work on. In the bowling department, Hasnain and Neesham got three wickets.
Neesham made amends after conceding 15 runs in his first over. Khary Pierre was wily and he nipped out Evin Lewis. Sunil Narine was also tough to get away.
It will be interesting to see who opens the batting alongside the hulk-like Gayle. The batting unit looks a power-packed one. Glenn Phillips and Chadwick Walton can hit the ball a fair distance.
George Worker is no mug with the bat in hand either. Not to undermine the burly Kennar Lewis, who was impressive for the Tallawahs last season. It goes without saying that a lot depends on Russell.
The Jamaican was lethal in all departments in the previous season and his team will be looking for something similar from him. Oshane Thomas’ career leapfrogged after last year’s CPL after he racked up 18 wickets from 10 matches.
The youngster’s role will be critical both at the start and death. Springer and Taylor are likely to be the other seamers. Khan and WorkeRare the spin bowlers.
The track in the first match was a fairly batting-friendly one. But the spinners also extracted a fair bit of turn from the strip.
A significant amount of dew was there in the first match and it won’t be much different even next time. Hence, fielding first seems to be a sensible option for the time being. There will be chance of rain from morning 9 AM to 6 PM and there could be a delayed start.
TKR Probable XI: Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Tion Webster, Denesh Ramdin (wk), James Neesham, Kieron Pollard (C), Javon Searles, Seekkuge Prasanna, Khary Pierre, Anderson Phillip, Mohammad Hasnain
JT Probable XI: Chris Gayle, Glenn Phillips (wk), George Worker, Chadwick Walton, Kennar Lewis, Andre Russell (C), Rovman Powell, Imran Khan, Jerome Taylor, Oshane Thomas, Shamar Springer (Crictracker)