Trinbago Knight Riders soared into the finals of CPL 2025 after brushing aside defending champions Saint Lucia Kings by 56 runs in Qualifier 2. The batting duo of Alex Hales and Nicholas Pooran who had put on an undefeated 143-run stand in the Eliminator were at it again with fine 50s to push the four-time CPL champions to a massive score of 194 for 4 in 20 overs. A four-fer from Usman Tariq and Sunil Narine's three-fer left the Kings well short in chase. TKR will face Guyana Amazon Warriors in the summit clash.

Once again, Colin Munro fell early for just six which brought the duo of Hales and Pooran together in the second over. Pooran led the attack initially as Hales struggled to time the ball. He began racing through the gears with a punch over long-on for six before taking 17 runs off Alzarri Joseph in the fifth over, which included 10 extras. He followed it up with a six and three fours in the final over of the PowerPlay to bring up the 50-run partnership between the two, with Hales still on six.

A couple of tight overs from Tabraiz Shamsi built the pressure, and it paid off when Pooran, after reaching 50, missed an across-the-line swipe and had his stumps rattled by Roston Chase. The dangerous Kieron Pollard walked in and smashed Shamsi down the ground for six. Hales then survived a touch-and-go stumping opportunity with the benefit of doubt staying with the batter. Hales also broke the shackles with a six off Tymal Mills in the 12th over and had a four to follow but the Kings still managed to slip in the quiet overs.

Just when TKR were in a spot of bother, Pollard smashed three sixes in Shamsi's final over to take 20 off it. Hales smashed two sixes to move to 50 but Pollard fell to Joseph in between. The turning point came in the last over when Andre Russell smashed 6, 6, 4, 6 off David Wiese in a blistering 12-ball cameo of 28 runs to put TKR in the driver's seat.

The in-form Tim Seifert got the chase going with a four and a six off Saurabh Netravalkar. He followed it up with four boundaries in a row off the left-armer's next over as the Kings had found early momentum. This forced TKR to turn to spin in the fifth over with Sunil Narine, who along with Akeal Hosein, put the brakes on the scoring.

This meant that opportunities in the field would follow but Seifert was dropped in the deep off Akeal Hosein. Johnson Charles, on the other hand, who had found no momentum at all in his innings fell in the ninth over to Pollard after a 24-ball stay for 17. Tim David smashed Usman Tariq for a six in the 11th over - the first boundary after 22 balls for the Kings.

Amidst the pressure, Seifert hit back-to-back boundaries to move to 50. David added another but Tariq struck twice in two balls as the pressure continued to mount on the Kings. David could only add a four and a six before he too succumbed, this time to Narine, as TKR's troika of spinners spun a web around the Kings. Narine picked up a double wicket-maiden in his final over while Tariq picked up two wickets as well in the last over of the game.

Brief Scores: Trinbago Kinght Riders 194/4 in 20 overs (Alex Hales 58*, Nicholas Pooran 50; Roston Chase 1-16, Khary Pierre 1-24) beat Saint Lucia Kings 138/8 in 20 overs (Tim Seifert 57, Tim David 28; Usman Tariq 4-35, Sunil Narine 3-18) by 56 runs