Even as a Mexican wave engulfed the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium on Thursday night, there was a cyclone that erupted on the ground in the form of Trinidad & Tobago as they brought the crowd on its feet with yet another crisp cricketing show to eliminate Cape Cobras in the semifinals of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament. Unflustered by a stiff target of 176 for a win, T&T riding on Dwayne Bravo’s brilliant 58 off 34 balls scored a sensational seven wicket win over the Cobras to enter the final, where they face New South Wales on Friday.
T&T got off to a scintillating start with openers Adrian Barath and William Perkins appearing to be in a hurry, feasting on a good diet of boundaries being offered to them by their opposition. Within no time, they had knocked off 53 runs for the first wicket before a terrible mix-up costed them the wicket of Perkins for 20. Barath too departed for 29 to leave T&T at 58 for 2 in the seventh over. T&T captain Daren Ganga and Lendl Simmons got together to take the total to 85 before Simmons departed for 20. That brought Ganga and Bravo together and the two finished off the match with four balls to spare. Ganga remained unbeaten on 44.
Earlier, Cape Cobras won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket full of runs. But openers Andrew Puttick and Herschelle Gibbs were not given much space to free their arms. With just eight runs yielded off the first two, Gibbs with a forgettable run in this series began to find his touch, bringing the first four of the match with a delicately timed shot down the third-man boundary. Cobras soon raced to 30 in four overs before Sherwin Ganga removed skipper Puttick for 10. Henry Davids joined Gibbs in the middle.
Gibbs opened up in the sixth over of the innings, ransacking Dwayne Bravo for 18 runs off it. Daren Ganga immediately switched to left-armer Dave Mohammad who obliged his skipper by sending back Davids for 7, courtesy a stunning return catch diving towards his right. Cobras 57 for 2.
Just when Gibbs’ innings was becoming exhilarating for his team and exasperating for the opposition, came the body blow for the Cobras when Kieron Pollard polished him off for a breezy 42 off 27. At 82 for 3, the game had titled in the favour of the opposition. But Jean Paul Duminy was not done yet. First in the company of Rory Kleinveldt (21) and then with Vernon Philander (13), Duminy (61) played a matured knock — changing gears at the right moment to get those big shots in place to help his team post a challenging 175 for 5 in their 20. But that proved too little for the ballistic T&T team.
Brief scores: Trinidad & Tobago 178/3 (Dwayne Bravo 58 n.o., Daren Ganga 44 n.o.) bt Cape Cobras 175/5 (J.P. Duminy 61 n.o., Herschelle Gibbs 42; Lendl Simmons 2/17).
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