CPL 2018 Trinbago Knight Riders vs Jamaica Tallawahs: Preview, Match Details, and Team News

The third match of this year's Caribbean Premier League will see defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders face off against Jamaica Tallawahs.

The Knight Riders are fresh from a dominating performance in the season-opener where they overwhelmed the St. Lucia Stars by 100 runs owing to half-centuries from Colin Munro and Denesh Ramdin followed by a disciplined bowling effort.

The match will mark the captaincy debut of Andre Russell who missed last year's CPL due to a doping-related ban.

"Dre Russ" has already proven his worth as a T20 superstar across the world and it will be interesting to see how he deals with the additional responsibility. The Tallawahs would be keen to welcome him back along with some newly added big names in Ross Taylor and David Miller.

The two-time champions would want to replicate their success from the past in what will be the start of a new era under the leadership of Russell. They had a decent season in 2017, where they finished third in the league before being knocked out in the Eliminator.

Match Details:

Date: August 10, 2018

Time: 05:30 am IST (Aug 11); 12:00 am GMT (Aug 11); 8 pm Local

Venue: Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Head-to-head:

Overall: TKR 4 - 8 JAM

At Queen's Park Oval: TKR 3 - 3 JAM

Team News

Russell returns to the CPL

TKR have no reason to tinker with their winning combination. The move to overlook Kevon Cooper raised eyebrows, but Ali Khan was impressive in his new-ball spell and should hold onto his place.

Trinbago Knight Riders (likely): 1) Chris Lynn 2) Sunil Narine 3) Colin Munro 4) Brendon McCullum 5) Darren Bravo 6) Denesh Ramdin [wk] 7) Dwayne Bravo [c] 8) Javon Searles 9) Fawad Ahmed 10) Shannon Gabriel 11) Ali Khan

David Miller's availability for the match is doubtful, given that he played in South Africa's ODI against Sri Lanka on August 8.

The Tallawahs boast of an enviable bowling lineup comprising of Samuel Badree, Imad Wasim and Kemar Roach along with CPL's all-time leading wicket-taker Krishmar Santokie.

However, they have been dealt an untimely blow of Shahid Afridi being ruled out of the competition due to a knee injury, and the Tallawahs have replaced him with Australian leg-spinner Adam Zam The combination they opt for to start the campaign, remains to be seen.

Jamaica Tallawahs (probable): 1) Johnson Charles 2) Glenn Phillips [wk] 3) Andre McCarthy 4) Ross Taylor 5) Rovman Powell 6) David Miller/Jermaine Blackwood 7) Andre Russell 8) Imad Wasim 9) Krishmar Santokie 10) Kemar Roach 11) Samuel Badree

Quotes

"When you retain 90 percent of the squad it makes my job very easy. Want to credit the entire team and management. We have got the best fans in the world and they are our 12th man and I hope they will come out and support us like the way they did today. We will try our best to win as many games as possible." - TKR captain Dwayne Bravo after his side's thumping win over the Stars

"It's a good feeling, honestly, I missed out last year due to one-year suspension. I'm looking forward to it. Not just looking forward to play but looking forward to being the captain for the Jamaica Tallawahs, as well and looking forward to doing a good job." - Andre Russell on being appointed captain of the Tallawahs

Full Squads:

Trinbago Knight Riders: Dwayne Bravo [c], Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Brendon McCullum, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Colin Munro, Khary Pierre, Ronsford Beaton, Javon Searles, Kevon Cooper, Nikita Miller, Anderson Phillip, Hamza Tariq, Amir Jangoo, Shannon Gabriel, Fawad Ahmed, Terrance Hinds

Jamaica Tallawahs: Andre Russell [c], Imad Wasim, David Miller, Ross Taylor, Rovman Powell, Samuel Badree, Kemar Roach, Glenn Phillips, Andre McCarthy, Krishmar Santokie, Johnson Charles, Steven Taylor, Kennar Lewis, Steven Jacobs, Oshane Thomas, Kirstan Kallicharan, Elmore Hutchinson, Jermaine Blackwood, Adam Zampa