Saint Lucia Kings defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets in the final to win their maiden Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title at Providence Stadium on Sunday. Opting to bowl first, the Kings restricted the Warriors at 138/8 with Noor Ahmad scalped three wickets. Later, the Faf du Plessis-led side chased down the target 18.1 overs and clinched their maiden title. After a long and tiring wait of 11 years, St Lucia finally emerged as the champions, as they were the only original CPL franchise left without a title.
After the victory, there were celebrations all over the stadium and while collecting the trophy, St Lucia skipper Faf du Plessis left everyone amused with his antics. He imitated Lionel Messi's famous robotic walk, which he did while collecting the FIFA 2022 trophy for Argentina.
This same action was done by India skipper Rohit Sharma after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 title in Barbados.
With St Lucia's triumph at CPL 2024, the Kings franchise have registered their first title. Their parent franchise Punjab Kings are yet to win an IPL title. Not just a title, PBKS are yet to reach even the Playoffs in IPL, since 2014.
Bollywood actress and co-owner of the Kings, Preity Zinta will surely be delighted after St Lucia's victory and she will now be hopeful for the same for PBKS in the upcoming edition of the IPL.
"Happy for the guys, they have been here (Sammy and Co.) for a long time. Think 10 or 15 years they have been waiting for the trophy to come home. Very happy with the bowling effort. At the toss I wasn't quite sure what to do and I felt like when they posted 138, when we walked off we were positive. I think in both the innings, last 2-3 overs really made the difference," said St Lucia skipper Faf du Plessis after the victory.
"The group of guys here, no superstars, we had different guys putting their hand up at different stages of the competition, so as a team I am really extremely proud of the guys. There was an excitement at the start of the competition in St Lucia about is this gonna be the season. First CPL trophy and it is a great achievement," he added.