‘Yeh toh star player hai’ – Fans react as Nicholas Pooran’s knock help Trinbago Knight Riders beat Barbados Royals in CPL 2023

Barbados Royals (BR) and Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) recently encountered each other in the 20th match of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) on 7 September 2023, Wednesday at the Port of Spain, Trinidad. BR won the toss and chose to bowl first, and TKR collectively put a high target on the board. 

Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russel led TKR to a high score as they scored 102 and 39 runs off 53 and 22 deliveries with a strike rate of 192.45 and 177.27, respectively. Nicholas Pooran smashed 5 fours and 10 huge sixes that left the spectators thrilled. The mid-order batter scored 2 fours and 5 sixes to lead TKR to a score of 208-6. 

Barbados Royals failed to chase the target of 209 runs at the end of 20 overs. Kyle Mayers and Van der Merwe became the highest scorers for the team by scoring 70 and 20 runs off 45 and 9 deliveries respectively. Pooran was highly appreciated for his mind blowing century. TKR sealed an easy victory against BR  by 42 runs. With 9 points TKR moved into the 2nd spot of the Points Table. 

“Had luck on my side today” – Nicholas Pooran 

“I am happy that I could perform, happy with the win. Had luck on my side today, it was nice to come out here and play in this way, the crowd deserved it. We both (Pollard and himself) bat together really well, but today it (run-out) was a  miscommunication. Everything happens for a reason and I took the responsibility after that run-out. I know my team-mates wanted me to perform and I wanted to perform for the crowd. I was batting horrible earlier in the tournament, but happy that I could contribute tonight and we won the match.”, said Pooran. 

“I think 210 was always going to be a difficult total. They were 15-20 runs too much. Congratulations to them, they played really well. They had some good support from the Trinidad crowd, but that’s the same case with us. Even we had some great support when we played in Barbados. Mayers got back his form, Qais Ahmad also played well” said Rovman Powell, Captain of Barbados Royals. 

Look at how the fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/cricketmane/status/1699633185380864449?s=46

https://twitter.com/JJeneille/status/1699599892115489187

https://twitter.com/Ariyen34/status/1699597548464550152

Need more of those

— Arka (@ARKA0432) September 7, 2023

https://twitter.com/kapilramcharan/status/1699609974706458960

https://twitter.com/trollpakistanii/status/1699610847969247263

What a poor bowling from Barbados. Full toss and all short deliveries. I followed this game. Bowling was below average.

— CHARLIE (@CharlieGulshan) September 7, 2023

He is playing on a different planet

— Telugu Digi (@TeluguDz) September 7, 2023