Seales and Jangoo star as Falcons enter CPL 2025 playoffs
The three remaining teams - Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Royals - all have a shot at the playoffs
The three remaining teams - Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Royals - all have a shot at the playoffs
Scorer: Harshith Gowda | Commentator: Rashad Mahbub
That's all from us today. Thank you for tuning in. Do join us again tomorrow for more CPL action. Until then, this is Rashad Mahbub signing off on behalf of Harshith Gowda and the rest of the ESPNcricinfo crew. Goodbye!
Imad Wasim: "[Runout] We are all professionals. If you make a mistake, I have made it thrice. After playing 400 T20s, I shouldn't have done that, but I did, which is very bad of me. But the coach always has a go at you; it's fine because he'll let it go, even if you're a senior player. That's how we are. I think from the start, Jayden Seales was fantastic. He's been bowling well all tournament but wasn't able to get big wickets, and today he was fantastic. All the bowlers, including Usama Mir, bowled really well. All the pieces of the puzzle are getting together, so we are looking like a good side now. I thought it was a 140-150 wicket. The wicket was very good, but the bowlers on both sides bowled really well, and the batters on both sides played some bad shots. We're here to win the tournament, and we're taking it one step at a time. Now we have qualified for the playoffs, and anything can happen. We've been making some mistakes, and we will sit down again and fix them. We haven't played our A-game yet, and we are in the playoffs. We want to play our A-game now."
Romario Shepherd: "The wicket was doing a lot for the spinners. They had a lot of spinners in their attack, and they used them wisely, putting us under pressure from ball one. Credit to our bowlers for the way they fought to the end and took the game to the 20th over. That kind of fight is good to see from our bowlers going forward. The pressure is always there; you have to perform in front of your home crowd. The expectation and the pressure are always there. Today wasn't our day, so hopefully, on Saturday, we can give the crowd something to cheer. Come out and support us like you always do. Tonight was a perfect night in the way that the fans never left the stadium until the 20th over. It's good to see that they're sticking with us."
Player of the Match, Jayden Seales "I feel really good. I had a good tournament leading up to this, and I understood what I needed to do tonight, which was just to come out and execute the plan. Wickets in the Powerplay are always important, especially against Guyana. We know they bat very deep, so the more we break into their batting, the more we keep chipping away at the wickets. It obviously worked well for us. [Wicket of Sampson] He's a big wicket in the tournament because we've seen what he's capable of. He's capable of hitting big boundaries and getting big runs for the team in the back end. So getting him in the last over was very important and very pleasing. [Player of the Match Award] It feels really good. It's not something I was looking for. I just wanted to come out and put in a big performance for the team. It was a total team effort, as all the boys did well. Just outstanding bowling is all I can say."
Hajji49: "Hasn't been the best of homestands for GAW after they squeaked past TKR early on. Very unusual situation for them. Playoffs should really be interesting"
10:16 pm What a match, what a turn of events! A classic low-scoring thriller that went down to the wire. The Falcons had a disastrous start to their run chase, losing their opening batter Gous in the first over. The drama continued as Tahir struck back-to-back, dismissing both Wickham and Gore. Moeen Ali then trapped Shakib Al Hasan, leaving the Falcons struggling at 24/4 inside the Powerplay. Just as it seemed the Warriors had turned the game around, a partnership between Jangoo and Imad Wasim started to rebuild the innings. However, their 29-run stand ended in unfortunate fashion when Imad was caught jogging lavishly and run out. In the end, Jangoo and Allen held their nerve to take the Falcons over the line and secure a vital victory. Jangoo remained unbeaten scoring 51 runs. The Warriors' bowling and fielding were brilliant, but the total was simply too low to defend. Tahir and Moeen Ali were the standout bowlers with two wickets each. A lot now depends on the Warriors' next two matches, as their playoff hopes hang in the balance.
Antigua and Barbuda Falcons won by 4 wickets
Scores Level.
The three remaining teams - Guyana Amazon Warriors, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Royals - all have a shot at the playoffs