Trinbago Knight Riders manager Colin Borde is confident the team remains in a strong position to reclaim the title, following the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) draft earlier this week.

The Knight Riders, the tournament’s most successful franchise, did not make too many changes to the previous season’s roster.  The team retained all of 11 players for this season’s CPL, set to run from August 18 to September 10.

The list includes Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Khary Pierre, Amir Jangoo, Tion Webster, Akeal Hosein, and Muhammad Ali Khan.  They have also signed 18-year-old West Indies under-19 medium-pacer Jayden Seales, as well as carrying back Australian Fawad Ahmed and New Zealand’s Colin Munro after they had stints away last season.

“I’m very pleased with the balance of the team, certainly the captain and selection committee would have done a wonderful job in having several discussions about the balance of the team based on the types of wickets we will have in Trinidad,” Borde told Trinidad and Tobago’s 7pmnews.

“Certainly, I must commend them for sticking with the core of players that have worked with us over the years and have built a nice tight unit, and also bringing back the likes of Ahmed and Munroe,” he added.

“The balance, experience, and togetherness in this team is going to be something that will take us over the line.  We are confident that if we do all the things we need to do, do them consistently and have a bit of luck on the way, we will be competing for the title as well.”