The 2021 edition of the Caribbean Premier League or the CPL is underway and the fans are going to be really excited by the kind of action they can be looking forward to in the coming days. After the IPL, if there is one league that has a cult fan following, it is the CPL and the league has also grabbed the attention of the stakeholders of the Indian Premier League. The league beats the likes of Big Bash and Vitality T20 Blast in the cult following it has and the biggest reason for that is the fever pitch flair that the Caribbean public bring to the game.
The Indian superstar and the owner of the franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, Shahrukh Khan also owns the Trinbago Knight Riders in the league and he has certainly carried his Midas touch to his team too. The team are going to be favourites heading into this edition of the tournament too as they have won four out of the eight seasons that have been played.
Their first victory came in the 2015 season when they just about scraped into the semis but once the big games came, they were on top of their game and beat the Barbados Tridents in the final to become the champions for the first time. Dwayne Bravo picked up 28 wickets in the competition and was awarded the player of the series
2017 was a really prolific season for them as they lost only 2 games throughout the season which is an amazing feat for a team in the CPL which is a hotly contested competition. They ended up beating the St Kitts and Nevis team to become champions with Kevon Cooper starring with both the ball and the bat in the final
They repeated their 2017 success the following year when they again topped the league and defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors to win the finals. This was a season which was dominated by Colin Munro scoring 567 runs and Fawad Ahmed picking up 22 wickets through the season.
Then in the 2020 season, they were back to their very best after a 4th placed finish in 2019 when they cruised to a title victory without losing a single game in the entire season. Their captain Kieron Pollard was bulldozing his team to victory through the season and was supported by the likes of Lendl Simmons who scored 356 runs.
Pollard in the current season is definitely going to be a hot pick for the Today Match Prediction for those who play fantasy games. He picked up 4 for 30 in the finals and took his team to victory.
Their unbeaten record is already gone in the current season as they lost their first game against the Guyana Amazon Warriors by 9 runs but they will surely get back soon and be the team that puts up a tough fight for every opposition they come across.
Kieron along with Denesh Ramdin and Colin Munro are going to be the leading picks for Fantasy cricket. In his career with the Knight Riders, Munro has scored at an average of close to 40 and scored 1766 runs. Sunil Naraine has picked up 49 wickets for them and will be a key figure in this season too. Ramdin is back for them this season and averages 33 when he plays for them. He will be a player to watch out for.
With the CPL now getting into its groove, expect the knight riders to be firing all cylinders and be the team to watch out for. This is a competition they dominate.
