At Providence Stadium, Guyana, Faf du Plessis-led Saint Lucia Kings created history as they won their first ever Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title. Saint Lucia Kings beat Imran Tahir’s Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets with 11 balls to spare in a low-scoring affair. After the win, Saint Lucia Kings and Punjab Kings (PBKS) co-owner Mohit Burman said that a lot of hard work went behind the scenes. He said that they have been involved in the game for 16 years but PBKS are yet to win the coveted trophy.
“We have been putting in a lot of hard work - the infrastructure and the thought into the game for the past 16 years. We are yet to win the IPL, but certainly this will give us the confidence to build a great team there as well,” Burman said after the successful run chase.
Burman was elated that the team finally crossed the final hurdle. He credited two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Daren Sammy and skipper Du Plessis as well.
“We have been involved here since 4 years. By the grace of God, we’ve been in two finals and this year we won it all, truly happy and thankful to the team. Great year for St.Lucia, firstly winning the gold in the Olympics and now the CPL. Daren is from St Lucia and he is the coach of West Indies as well. When we first brought the team he was a player here too,” he said.
“Faf is an all time great, he’s been playing cricket for God knows how long and done amazingly well at the IPL. Between the coach and the captain, they put in a great team together and this is where we are at tonight, the CPL champions,” the 56-year-old added.
PBKS up for revamp after decade-long rut
PBKS will be looking for a major revamp in the IPL 2025 mega auction. It is unlikely that they will retain up to six players (including RTM card) ahead of the auction. They need a new captain after Shikhar Dhawan retired from all formats.
The last time PBKS qualified for playoffs was in IPL 2014. They were beaten by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the final. Since then, they have tried several captains but couldn’t get past the league stage. This time, they have roped in former Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach Ricky Ponting who will help them build a team which will aim at ending the decade-long rut.
