CPL 2018 Match 27: Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Trinbago Knight Riders, Preview and Predicted Playing XI

Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors will be going head-to-head in this top-of-the-table clash in the 27th game of the CPL 2018 at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad on Wednesday, September 5.

Both teams have played 13 matches against each other in the Caribbean Premier League with the Riders winning eight of those and the Warriors five. Interestingly, this will be their first clash of 2018 season and are already through to the playoffs. Now, these teams would like to extend their winning run and look to seal top two before entering the knockout stage.

Trinbago Knight Riders

Trinbago Knight Riders currently occupy the second position in the CPL 2018 standings with five wins and a couple of defeats from seven league matches. They have won their last four matches in a row which includes a comfortable 46-run victory over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in their last match. The Knight Riders have been excellent with the bat since their last four games, scoring in excess of 180 on three of those occasions.

Batting: Colin Munro is leading the CPL 2018 runs charts with 346 runs. The opening batsman has smashed four half-centuries so far and will be their key batsman against the Warriors. Knight Riders will also have huge expectations from the likes of Darren Bravo and Brendon McCullum who has had a few good hits this season and are among the top 10 run scores with 234 and 246 runs respectively.

Bowling: Fawad Ahmed and Ali Khan are among of the highest wicket-takers this CPL. Both have taken 10 wickets each in seven matches and will pose the biggest threat to the Warriors. Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine who is having an acceptable economy rate of under 8 and expected to make a major impact with the ball in this match.

Expected Playing XI: Dwayne Bravo (C), Javon Searles, Ali Khan, Fawad Ahmed, Anderson Phillip, Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Brendon McCullum, Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin.

Guyana Amazon Warriors

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Hero CPL 2018

Similarly, Warriors have also won five and lost two out of the seven matches they have played so far in the league stage but are placed second on the CPL 2018 points table on account of lower net run-rate. After facing a six-wicket loss at the hands of St Lucia Stars at Gros Islet, the Warriors came back strongly with back-to-back wins against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Tridents respectively.

Batting: Shimron Hetmyer has an impressive strike-rate of 158.57 and is amongst the season's top five batsmen with 268 runs. While Luke Ronchi and Chadwick Walton are coming off with respective scores of 67 not out and 43 against Barbados Tridents and the team will need them to bring that form into this match.

Bowling: Imran Tahir with 13 wickets in 7 matches has been the standout performer for the team with the ball. The South African leg-spinner was the pick of the bowlers against the Tridents with figures of 4-0-21-2 and he is the go-to man in this bowling group. While Kemo Paul, Chris Green and Sohail Tanvir have taken six, five and five wickets respectively and the team will also be hoping for good support from them as well.

Expected Playing XI: Rayad Emrit (C), Veerasammy Permaul, Imran Tahir, Chadwick Walton, Luke Ronchi, Shimron Hetmyer, Cameron Delport, Jason Mohammed, Sohail Tanvir, Roshon Primus and Chris Green.

Also see - CPL Most Runs 2019