TKR finished the group stage of CPL 2020 with 10 wins out of 10, but all that will count for nothing if they lose at any stage in the knockouts.
Jamaica Tallawahs, in the group stage, were nowhere near as consistent as TKR, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the quality to beat TKR on their day.
Here are our fantasy cricket tips for semi-final 1 of CPL 2020 –
Pitch Report
The surface will certainly be a decent batting deck given the fact that it’s not going to be a used surface. The general nature of the surfaces at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy over the years has been that they tend to be a bit slow, but this particular surface shouldn’t be as slow as some of the other surfaces in the past.
Predicted XI of both teams
Trinbago Knight Riders
Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro/Tion Webster, Tim Seifert, Kieron Pollard (C), Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Khary Pierre, Fawad Ahmed and Jayden Seale
Jamaica Tallawahs
Jermaine Blackwood, Glenn Phillips, Nicholas Kirton, Rovman Powell (C), Andre Russell, Asif Ali, Carlos Brathwaite, Mujeeb ur Rehman, Sandeep Lamichhane, Veerasammy Permaul and Fidel Edwards
Top Picks
Now with the tournament having reached its knockout stage, the fans will have to expect the big players to rise to the occasion. While Glenn Phillips is not quite one of the biggest names on show tonight, nobody has scored more runs than him in the tournament and he will be looking for a big push at the top of the order for Jamaica tonight.
Lendl Simmons and Darren Bravo have been two very experienced players for TKR and have been fairly consistent as well in the last few games. Amid a battalion of power hitters in the TKR line-up, Simmons and Bravo are the ones who can play proper cricket as well and given their experience and skill-set, a big contribution can be expected from both these players.
Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell just can’t be left out of the fantasy XI because of the impact that these two players are likely to make on the game. The fact that Russell is batting slightly up the order now and Pollard is chipping in with the ball as well makes their roles even more vital for their respective teams.
Fidel Edwards has been bowling absolute wheels in this year’s CPL even at the age of 38 and he is not just bowling quickly, he is swinging the ball upfront as well. TKR can’t afford to take him lightly at all.
Captaincy pick: Andre Russell
Vice-captaincy pick: Kieron Pollard
Fantasy XI: Glenn Phillips, Darren Bravo, Lindl Simmons, Jermaine Blackwood, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard (VC), Andre Russell (C), Jayden Seales, Khary Pierre, Fawad Ahmed, Fidel Edwards
