Senior Reporter/Producer
Wednesday night’s 36-run defeat against the St Lucia Kings at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain condemned the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) to its second-worst start to a Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season in the 14-year history of the tournament.
TKR’s 2026 record of one win followed by three straight defeats is eclipsed only by its 2013 start to the tournament, when the then Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel lost three straight games followed by one no result across the first four games of the inaugural competition.
Three back-to-back losses is also a relatively unfamiliar feeling for the T&T-based five-time CPL champion franchise, which has only ever suffered that indignity on three occasions aside from 2013 and 2026.
TKR lost three on the bounce, twice in 2022, when they ended up at the bottom of the table and missed the play-offs for the first time, making it the team’s worst ever season.
In the first half of the 2022 edition, TKR lost to Barbados Royals by 80 runs at the Darren Sammy Ground, St Lucia, followed by a 34-run defeat to Jamaica Tallawahs at the same venue and again to Barbados Royals by 8 wickets at the Queen’s Park Oval. Back-to-back mid-season wins against Guyana Amazon Warriors by 26 runs in Port-of-Spain and Jamaica Tallawahs by four wickets at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) separated another slump of defeats to St Lucia Kings (by one run), St Kitts and Nevis Patriots (by seven runs) and the Warriors (by 34 runs).
And TKR’s third-ever three-match losing streak occurred in the 2025 championship-winning season. A late-season dip in form signalled defeats against St Lucia at the BLCA (seven wickets), Guyana at Providence Stadium (by three wickets) and Barbados at Kensington Oval (by seven wickets), before bouncing back to win the tournament.
As the search for answers to the reasons for the team’s poor form this season continued immediately after Wednesday night’s defeat, team veteran Colin Munro confirmed what many experts and arm-chair critics alike already suspect.
“Maybe our seam depth, maybe a little bit,” said the New Zealander when asked whether the squad lacked depth.
He added, “We’re probably just maybe lacking one quality seamer that can really carry the attack like we had last year. We had Netravalkar, we had Mohammad Amir, and you can’t really replace that experience.”
Munro was referring to the loss of USA international Saurabh Netravalkar this season after last season’s highly impressive TKR debut as a temporary injury replacement for former Pakistan international Mohammad Amir during the latter stages of the team’s record-extending fifth championship run.
The pair combined for 17 wickets last season, with Amir claiming 11 from his seven matches before being injured out of the tournament, while Netravalkar took over to carry the attack, claiming six wickets in four matches. Netravalkar has since been signed by the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for the 2026 season, while Amir was not retained.
Munro’s lamentation is reflected in TKR’s poor bowling figures this season, as the reigning champs have conceded 671 runs from four matches while collecting just 23 wickets and not being able to bowl out any opponent.
In the absence of Netravalkar, Amir, and Justin Greaves, the ICC cricketer of the month for July, who is injured and has not played so far this season, TKR has relied on allrounder Terrance Hinds as its leading seam option with six wickets. Hinds has bowled 9.3 overs in three matches and conceded 117 runs. His best figures were three for 33 in the team’s rain-affected victory against the Patriots on August 8. But he was expensive in the team’s previous two matches, claiming 2 for 36 from 2.3 overs against the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons on August 22 and one for 48 from three overs against the Jamaica Kingsmen on August 15, and was dropped for Wednesday’s match.
While no TKR bowler features in the top ten wicket-takers, Hinds comes in at a distant 14th, while last year’s overall runner-up, Usman Tariq, is 16th on the current list with five wickets at a cost of 87 runs from 12 overs in three matches.
TKR’s next best bowlers are Sunil Narine with four wickets, Kieron Pollard with three Dominic Drakes with two wickets and Jyd Goolie with one.
In summing up the team’s performance so far, Munro was not coy. “It is still relatively early, but again, we haven’t played good cricket,” he said.
“There are a number of reasons why, but yeah, it’s not the lack of trying. It’s just executing under pressure. And at the moment we haven’t done that really well.”
Munro’s knock of 48 from 35 balls on Wednesday was his best score so far this season and saw him enter the top ten of this season’s run-scorers list for the first time. Munro, 39, jumped to 127 runs from four innings and sat in fifth before last night’s clash between Jamaica Kingsmen and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
Kamil Pooran of the Kings tops the list with 193 runs from five matches and a highest of 81 not out. He is followed by Rovman Powell of the Jamaica Kingsmen with 187 runs from six matches and a highest score of 49. Powell’s fellow Kingsman, Andre Russell, comes in at third with 143 runs from six innings and a high score of 68, while Reeza Hendricks, also of the Kingsmen, has amassed 140 runs from five innings and a best of 42.
Munro’s TKR teammate, Pollard’s top score of 65 from 26 on Wednesday, also saw him climb to ninth on the list with an aggregate of 118 from three innings.
The former New Zealand international counted those figures among the positives, as limited they may be at this time, and hopes for a turnaround soon, at least for the sake of TKR’s supporters.
He said, “They love this team, but they also love to hate this team if we’re not playing well. I’ve been here long enough to know that, you know, they can quickly turn on us. So bear with us. Hopefully we can come together as a group and put a smile on your guys’ faces over the next four games. If we win those four, then who knows what can happen at the back end of the tournament.”
