Akmal was named Man of the Match for his knock of 49

Image courtesy of: CPL T20

Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal smashed a quickfire 49 to not only help his side beat the Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets, but also led them to their first ever Caribbean Premier League (CPL) final, where they will face the Barbados Tridents.

Amazon Warriors captain Denesh Ramdin would have been regretting his decision to bat first as Lendl Simmons was the only batsman to have any sort of impact as he hammered 64 runs off 51 balls, which included eight boundaries.

Simmons made a gutsy 64

Image courtesy of: CPL T20

Other than him, only Chris Barnwell managed to make it to double figures. Meanwhile, the rest of the batting line-up failed miserably as they were dismissed for six runs or less.

As a result, the Amazon Warriors were restricted to 108/9 off their 20 overs.

Red Steel skipper Dwayne Bravo, Sulieman Benn and Samuel Badree picked up two wickets apiece, while Kevon Cooper chipped in with one wicket.

Chasing 109 to win, the Red Steel did not get off to the best of starts as Cameron Delport and Jacques Kallis fell cheaply.

Darren Bravo smashed 22 runs in almost no time at all before Akmal took over and walloped 49 runs off 41 deliveries, which included seven boundaries and a six. Akmal was then clean bowled by Sunil Narine, but it was too little too late for the Amazon Warriors as the Red Steel stormed to their target with nine balls to spare.

Narine, Devendra Bishoo, Veerasammy Permaul and Marchant de Lange claimed one wicket each.

Akmal was named Man of the Match.