Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey

CPL 2021 Match 7: SLK vs TKR Dream11 & Fan2Play Prediction Possible Playing 11 Pitch Report | SLK vs TKR Dream11 Prediction Today | St Lucia Kings vs Trinbago Knight Riders Key Players | St Kitts Pitch Report

From a record defeat to playing the record CPL title holders, St Lucia Kings have quite the task ahead of them today. The talent is there, but they will need to produce when it matters in a competition that is already looking quite competitive, especially with Barbados and St Kitts picked up victories yesterday.

So, how well can they recover from a 120-run defeat against champions Trinbago Knight Riders? TKR opened their CPL 2021 account with a dominant win over Barbados a couple of days back, courtesy of Isuru Udana’s five-for and Kieron Pollard’s magnificent finishing. The form of their top order is an area for improvement, so keep an eye on Lendl Simmons, Colin Munro and Tim Seifert in their quest to find form.

In a short, sharp competition, picking up early points and confidence is key on the agenda. Both teams will be aiming for a quality performance today.

Key Players to Watch/Key Stats

St Lucia Kings:

• Andre Fletcher has the most runs in SLK-TKR matches. His 451 runs have come in 17 matches, at an average of 28.19 and strike rate of 102.27. He scored 39 (27) and 42 (27) vs TKR in CPL 2020.
• Mark Deyal provided resistance against TKR last season, and SLK will be hoping he does the same this season. He scored 29 (27) and 40 (33) vs TKR in CPL 2020.
• Faf du Plessis will be crucial to SLK’s hopes. Coming off a golden duck a couple of days ago, Faf will be looking for his first big innings since returning from a concussion. He has scored just two runs in two innings vs TKR, but Faf’s class can’t be ignored particularly given how well he was playing earlier in 2021.
• Tim David’s rise continues. He scored a superb 56 off 28 balls vs Jamaica two days ago, and he will be key as a finisher here.
• Obed McCoy will be key in limiting the impact of the TKR batsmen. McCoy was superb against Australia recently, and was in the wickets vs Jamaica, although expensive (3/52).
• Keemo Paul and Wahab Riaz will need to overturn some poor numbers. Paul has taken just the one wicket in four innings vs TKR. Wahab is coming off a terrible day, where he conceded the second-highest economy rate of any bowler (min. 2 overs) in a single CPL game. Riaz has three wickets in three games vs TKR.

Trinbago Knight Riders:

• Lendl Simmons is yet to make an impact in CPL 2021, but he enjoys playing against St. Lucia. In four innings for TKR against them, he has slammed 155 runs (avg. 51.67) at a strike rate of 151.96. This includes a swushbuckling 84* off 49 balls in CPL 2020.
• Darren Bravo has an unbelievably good record against St. Lucia. In 10 innings, he has scored 323 runs at an average of 107.67 and strike rate of 150.23. This includes two half-centuries in two matches last season (50 off 42 balls and 58* off 47 balls).
• Like Simmons, Colin Munro hasn’t made an impact yet in this tournament. Today could be the day, as he has enjoyed past success against SLK (8 inns, 227 runs, avg. 32.43, SR 146.45).
• Kieron Pollard is in some fine touch. He scored a brilliant 58* off 30 balls vs Barbados two days ago. Also, he has a magnificent record against St. Lucia, with 378 runs in 13 innings at an average/strike rate of 54.00/153.04. He also has 20 wickets to his name against them.
• Isuru Udana is coming off a player-of-the-match performance vs Barbados, thanks to a brilliant haul of 5/21. He will be key again in limiting St. Lucia’s finishers.
• Sunil Narine will be looking to improve on his numbers of five wickets in eight games vs St. Lucia. Also, he averages just 13.83 with the bat against them.

Stats and Facts

• Head-to-head: Matches 17, SLK 2, TKR 13, N/R 2.
• St. Lucia have not beaten TKR since the 2016 CPL season.
• TKR have won 13 of their past 14 CPL matches.
• Kieron Pollard took seven wickets in two matches vs St Lucia in CPL 2020.

Possible Playing XI

Will SLK persist with Wahab Riaz after a bad day out? His experience suggests they should.

St. Lucia Kings: 1. Rakheem Cornwall, 2. Andre Fletcher (wk), 3. Faf du Plessis (c), 4. Mark Deyal, 5. Roston Chase, 6. Tim David, 7. Keemo Paul, 8. Wahab Riaz, 9. Usman Qadir, 10. Kesrick Williams, 11. Obed McCoy

TKR could look at batting Sunil Narine lower down the order to accommodate Darren Bravo, who has an outstanding record vs SLK, up the order.

Trinbago Knight Riders: 1. Lendl Simmons, 2. Sunil Narine, 3. Colin Munro, 4. Tim Seifert, 5. Darren Bravo, 6. Kieron Pollard (c), 7. Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8. Isuru Udana, 9. Akeal Hosein, 10. Ravi Rampaul, 11. Jayden Seales 

Warner Park Basseterre St Kitts Pitch Report and Weather

The team batting first has won four out of six games so far in CPL 2021. In these four wins, the average first innings score is 183.25, bumped up by Jamaica’s 255. This indicates that run-scoring is possible given the easy-paced nature of the pitch and smaller boundaries.

The forecast is for warm and clear weather.

Fantasy Cricket

Note: Teams below are not based on the final playing XIs. We may not be able to update these teams in time after the final playing XIs have been announced.

Dream11 Prediction

Option 1:

Option 2:

Fan2Play Prediction

Also read: Fan2Play vs Dream11 – What’s the difference?

Match Prediction

This has the potential to be a good game given the quality St. Lucia have in their ranks. However, Trinbago Knight Riders have the wood over St. Lucia and should be good enough to win the game.