Dindyal’s first CPL innings lasted one ball, and his second was a fifty that won a game
Mavendra Dindyal was out first ball on his Caribbean Premier League debut. Six days later the 21-year-old made 50 off 51 as Guyana Amazon Warriors chased down St Lucia Kings at Gros Islet.
Aug 20, 2026
Mavendra Dindyal’s first innings in the Caribbean Premier League lasted one ball. His second lasted 51 of them, and it was the innings that carried Guyana Amazon Warriors past St Lucia Kings at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium on 19 August.
The 21-year-old Guyanese opener finished on 50, the first fifty of his CPL career, six days after Jediah Blades dismissed him with the first ball he faced on debut in Kingston. Guyana chased 152 with 11 balls in hand and have now won both games they have played.
The Kings kept getting starts and kept giving them away
St Lucia Kings batted first and made 151 for 7. Kamil Pooran took 19 off nine balls at the top, Ackeem Auguste 13 off eight, captain Roston Chase 14 off 13, Matthew Forde 14 off seven. Four batters got themselves in and none of them stayed. Charith Asalanka’s 35 off 28 was the only innings that reached 30, and Dwaine Pretorius ended that one too.
Pretorius finished with 3 for 29 from four overs, Shamar Joseph took 2 for 25, and Khary Pierre was the tightest bowler on either side, four overs for 21 without a wicket. Imran Tahir conceded 22 in three and picked up Auguste.
Tahir turned 47 in March. He joined Guyana in 2018, captained them to their first CPL title in 2023, and in 2024 became the first overseas bowler to reach 100 wickets in the competition. Indian viewers know the sprint and the finger-wag from eight seasons at Chennai Super Kings, where he took 26 wickets in 2019 alone, after two years at Delhi Daredevils and two at Rising Pune. He is still bowling his overs in a league where most legspinners his age are commentating on it.
Dindyal held an end while the strike rates changed around him
Glenn Phillips gave the chase its early speed with 36 off 26 before Jayden Bishop had him caught. Shai Hope made 17 off 17. Dindyal was doing the less eye-catching job at the other end, batting through at a shade under a run a ball while the innings rearranged itself around him.
He had already made his mark in the field. The catch that removed Andries Gous off Pretorius was good enough to lead the highlights of the Kings’ innings.
Maheesh Theekshana eventually got him, stumped by Gous, but the game was effectively decided by then. Shimron Hetmyer hit 25 not out off 11 and Quentin Sampson 13 not out off four, and 157 for 3 arrived with an over and five balls to spare.
A duck and a fifty from the same debutant, six days apart
Dindyal’s introduction to franchise cricket was as unforgiving as they come. Blades bowled him a ball he could not keep out in the first over at Sabina Park on 13 August, and Guyana won that match by six wickets without needing anything from their new opener. Shai Hope’s unbeaten 56 and a four-wicket haul from Mohammad Nabi did the work instead.
Six days later he faced more deliveries than anyone else in the match. Fifty-one balls for 50 runs is not a strike rate that wins T20 matches on its own, and it did not have to be. Somebody had to survive the middle overs on a surface where the side batting first could not get away, and the 21-year-old who had faced one ball in the tournament turned out to be the man who did it.
The Caribbean Premier League runs to 20 September. This was the 11th match of the group stage, Guyana have played two of them and won both, and the same player has now given them a duck and a fifty inside a week.