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West Indian spinner Sunil Narine became the first recipient of a red card in the Caribbean Premier League as the Trinbago Knight Riders were three overs behind when the dedicated time ended. The Knight Riders had only 10 men on the field for the last three overs and only two outside the 30-yard circle, which put them at a huge disadvantage.
According to the new rules in the CPL, if the bowling team doesn't start the 18th over on time, only four fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. If they exceed the time limit at the start of 19th over, one more fielder must enter the circle, leaving three in the outfield. Additionally, if the final over does not start on time, one player must go off the field, which is selected by the captain and can have just two players outside the circle. The Kieron Pollard-led side incurred all three penalties, and Patriots' finisher Sherfane Rutherford made them pay with 18 runs from the final over, bowled by Dwayne Bravo.
The umpire halted play just before the commencement of the final over and handed the red card to the Trinbago Knight Riders. Captain Kieron Pollard quickly signalled for Sunil Narine to leave the field as he had already completed his quota of four overs and is one of the more subpar fielders.
It did not matter in the end as the Knight Riders won the game comfortably by six wickets with 17 balls to be spared. Nicholas Pooran’s 61 off 32 balls led the Knight Riders’ successful chase before captain Kieron Pollard (37*) and Andre Russell (23*) took them home. However, skipper Pollard was not happy at the end of the game as he called the rule “ridiculous”.
“To be honest, it will take away the hard work everyone has done (prior to the penalties). We are like the pawns and we are going to do what we are told. We are going to play as fast as we can. If you are penalized for 30-45 seconds in a tournament like this, it is absolutely ridiculous,” Pollard said.