Maaz Sadaqat made 114 of Jamaica’s 170, and the Falcons won the CPL with 20 balls left
Antigua and Barbuda Falcons are Caribbean Premier League champions in their third season, and they beat the returning Jamaica franchise whose place they took in 2024.
Sep 21, 2026
Maaz Sadaqat faced 58 balls at Kensington Oval on 20 September and scored 114 of them. The other ten batters in the Jamaica Kingsmen order made 44 between them. That is the whole story of the 2026 Caribbean Premier League final in two sentences, and it is why Antigua and Barbuda Falcons are champions for the first time.
One innings, and then nothing
Nobody had scored a hundred in a CPL final before this one. Sadaqat reached fifty off 27 balls and his hundred off 49. He finished with eight fours and nine sixes, caught by Joshua James off Shamar Springer with one ball of the innings left, which meant he was there for 19.5 of the 20 overs. Jamaica still only reached 170 for 9.
The collapse around him was quick and total. Saim Ayub had made 29 from 22 and the score was 110 for 2 in the 12th over. Eleven balls later it was 113 for 6. Rovman Powell went for a duck, Romaine Morris went for a duck, Hassan Khan made 1, and Sadaqat was suddenly batting with the tail in a final. Andre Russell got 2 from seven balls. Kirk McKenzie had already gone in the first over for nought.
Twelve of Jamaica’s runs were extras. Only two of their batters reached double figures.
Sufyan Moqim bowled 16 dot balls
Sufyan Moqim’s four overs cost 14 runs and took four wickets, and 16 of his 24 balls were dots. He went at 3.50 an over in a Twenty20 final; the next most economical bowler in the match, Alzarri Joseph, conceded almost twice as much per over. Moqim had Ayub caught, Powell caught and Hassan Khan caught, and stumped Keemo Paul. That was the middle order, taken out by a left-arm wrist spinner who does not bother flighting it.
Alzarri Joseph finished with 2 for 27, Jayden Seales took one, Shadab Khan took one, and Springer took the wicket that ended the innings. Rahkeem Cornwall and Joshua James were the two who suffered, going for 35 and 36 in their three and two overs.
Cornwall made 20 from six balls
The chase was decided before it properly started. Cornwall opened, hit two fours and two sixes, was bowled by Ayub for 20, and had faced six balls. Antigua were 20 for 1 after one over and 76 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.
Evin Lewis made 38 from 26 before Vitel Lawes bowled him, and that was the last wicket Jamaica took. Amir Jangoo and Hasan Nawaz put on 89 without being separated, Jangoo finishing 57 not out from 34 and Nawaz 47 not out from 35. The target of 171 was reached in 16.4 overs with 20 balls to spare, and Moeen Ali never had to bat.
The team that replaced Jamaica beat Jamaica
There is a neat circularity to who beat whom. The Falcons only exist in this league because they took over the Jamaica Tallawahs’ slot in 2024. Jamaica got a franchise back this year, reached the final in its first season, and lost it to the team that had replaced it. Both sides arrived without a CPL title; one of them had to leave with a first.
Antigua, in their third season, finished second in the league table with six wins from ten, three points behind Guyana Amazon Warriors, who topped the group and then went out in the playoffs.
Shadab Khan took the player of the tournament award with 132 runs and 11 wickets. Moqim took the one that mattered on the night. Sadaqat, who scored more runs in the final than anyone has any right to on a losing side, went home with Cricinfo’s MVP points and nothing else.