Trinbago Knight Riders vs St Lucia Kings 1st Semi Final Betting Tips 14/09/2021

00:06, 14 Sep 2021

Senior Author

00:06, 14 Sep 2021

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.

The 1st semi-final of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2021 will be played between defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders and St Lucia Kings at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts on September 14 (Tuesday). The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm IST.

Teams Status

Trinbago Knight Riders

Trinbago were wobble at the start of their CPL 2021 campaign but found their momentum soon enough and by the time the business end of the season approached, they were back in form.

After winning one of their opening three of the season, the won five of their remaining seven to storm to the top of the table.

They also won their final match of the round-robin stage, beating previous league leaders and hosts St Kitts and Nevis by four wickets.

Like last year, Trinbago are again the team to beat and firm favourites to win it all.

Their bowling is spearheaded by veteran Ravi Rampaul, who is having an Indian summer and is the joint highest wicket taker in the tournament with 18 to his name. Their batting has been more a team effort, with multiple contributors rather than one or two heroes, which is a good problem to have. Or is it a problem at all?

St Lucia Kings

The biggest headache for the Kings is the groin injury of their captain Faf du Plessis. The veteran South African picked up the knock on Saturday and now faces a race against time to be fit for the crucial final-four match.

His absence was felt in the last game when stand-in skipper Andre Fletcher was visibly struggling to calm his bowlers and stop the flow of runs. In the end, they ended up losing to Barbados Royals – the side that finished last in the tournament.

Such a morale crushing victory was the last thing the Kings would have wanted before such an important match.

The leadership gap aside, Du Plessis’ batting replacement – Rahkeem Cornwall – did pretty well with the bat, contributing 40 off 26 and provided a 62-run stand with Fletcher up top, as the Kings piled up 190-6, a total which should have sufficed, had Fletcher managed to use his options wisely.

Thus, the quest for their maiden CPL title rests on the ‘groin’ of their injured skipper.

What do the Sportsbook Say

Brand	Trinbago Knight Riders	St Lucia Kings
	1.57	2.37
	1.66	2.28
	1.61	2.30

Trinbago are the favourites for this fixture as they should be. Betway has Trinbago priced at 1.61 and St Lucia at 2.30. Bet365 has Trinbago available for 1.57 and St Lucia for 2.37. Lastly, Dafabet has Trinbago priced at 1.66 and St Lucia at 2.28.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Trinbago Knight Riders to win @ 1.66

One team is the defending champion and the form team of the tournament. The other has an injured captain whose understudy is not quite up to the job yet. It’s a no-brainer really. The play here is to back Trinbago Knight Riders to win a odds of 1.66 with Dafabet.

Tip: Total Runs Over 299.5 @ 1.832

Whatever St Lucia’s problems may be, it’s not runs scoring. They have been getting their fair share of runs of late, to which the biggest contributor has been Roston Chase, who is the highest scorer in the tournament with 367 to his name. St Lucia batting unit, together with the in-form batters of their opponents should cover the 299.5-run spread available on 22Bet for odds of 1.832.

Conclusion

These teams split their twin matches of round-robin stage but Trinbago’s win was more dominant. That was also their only defeat in their last five meetings. They should win, if all goes according to plan.