Trinidad & Tobago had all but made it through to the semi-finals. Even if they were to lose their last match in the Super Eights they could have entered the semi-finals on account of their superior net run rate.
But this Daren Ganga side, that’s the only unbeaten team in the tournament wanted to make a statement of sorts and march into the knockout stage rather than sneak in! By pulverising the bowling and notching up 200+ on the board, a statement they did make, and thunderous one at that!
Eagles to their credit fought hard, especially in the powerplay overs but their opposition had put up a bit too many on the board for their liking. Ganga won the toss at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and opted to bat first. His batsmen racked up 213/4 in their 20 overs as the Eagles bowlers were left wondering what hit them. Their best bowler had an economy rate of 7.25, a stat that gives one an idea of how dominating the T&T batting was.
In response, the Eagles who had to chase down the score in about 14 overs to qualify for the semi finals finished on 189/5, thereby losing the match by 24 runs and bowing out of the tournament.
The T&T batsmen led by Adrian Barath were clearly intent on dealing in boundaries and sixes alone.
Of the six batsmen who entered the fray, only one had a strike of less than 150 and that was William Perkins who was scoring at 140 runs per 100 balls! No bowler was spared as Barath especially blasted the bowling to all parts of the ground. His 41 ball 63 that was highlighted by four hits to the fence and as many 6s was then followed up by cameos from Lendl Simons, Keiron Pollard and a high-voltage blitzkrieg by Navin Stewart towards the end. Stewart in particular was instrumental in pushing the score past 200 with his 11 ball 33 that was akin to icing on the cake for the T&T innings.
The team became the 1st to post a 200+ plus total in the tournament and finished on 213. Ryan McLaren was the most economical bowler with figures of 4-0-29-1 while four of his teammates went for more than 10 runs per over.
Credit should be given to the Eagles though for not sinking in without a fight. Infact, they gave the T&T bowlers a real scare as their openers led by Rilee Rossouw raced to 50 within the 4th over.
Sherwin Ganga had to be called onto bowl while the field restrictions were still on and the move paid off, albeit with some luck going against the batting side. A full toss by the bowler accounted for a wicket as van Wyk failed to read the trajectory and was caught plumb in front. Even as another full toss gave the bowler similar result to dismiss Adrian McLaren, Rossouw was carrying on the fight at the other end. His was the fastest innings of the match, in terms of strike rate and that’s a testimony to the kind of hitting that was on display. His 19 ball 44 finally came to an end while the team score was at 81 in just 6.3 overs. Eagles were expected to capitulate after his dismissal but the batsmen to follow him did brave the odds. But eventually 213 was too tough an ask, even to be overhauled in 20 overs, leave alone 14 odd that Eagles needed to make it to the semi finals.
They finally finished their innings on 189/5 handing the side from the Caribbean a 24 run win. Adrian Barath who set up the win for them was declared the ‘Man of the Match.’