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Batsmen may dictate terms

V.V. Subrahmanyam

— Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

Brendon McCullum (right) and his teammate adjust the net before practice.

HYDERABAD: “Gilly is one of my best friends. It feels very strange to lead a team against his Chargers, which also includes my former teammate Andrew Symonds,” said Justin Langer, captain of Somerset Sabres.

But, it is time to set aside the emotions and face realities as the battle-scarred veterans try to inspire their teams to victory. The two outfits — Somerset Sabres and Deccan Chargers — clash in the Champions League tournament at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.

But before that, in the first match of the day, Cape Cobras will take on Otago Volts from New Zealand.

Gilchrist confident

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist sounded confident. “Right now, we are not looking at goal of winning the trophy. We wish to achieve our first target of entering the second round and then we will take it match by match as we did in South Africa,” said Gilchrist.

Gilchrist is likely to open with V.V.S. Laxman since Chargers’ regular opener Herschelle Gibbs is representing Cape Cobras.

According to Gilchrist, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha will have a big role to play and his confidence is shared by big-hitting all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

When reminded that the IPL-2 champion did not win a single match at home in the first IPL edition, Symonds said Chargers was keen to change the script this time.

Adaptability factor

Somerset coach Andy Hurry’s only concern was how quickly his bowlers would adapt to the different and trying conditions. “We have a blend of wonderful talent and experience,” he said

According to curator Y.L. Chandrasekhar the pitch should be an ideal T20 wicket. Given the nature of pitches prepared in the past, it should be a run-feast. Hence batsmen may dictate the course in the two matches based on the hints given by the curator.

Saturday’s matches: Cape Cobras vs. Otago Volts (4 p.m.); Deccan Chargers vs. Somerset Sabres (8 p.m.).

The teams (from): Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (capt.), V.V.S. Laxman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris, Ryan Harris, Pragyan Ojha, Y. Venugopala Rao, T. Suman, Azhar Bilakia, Harmeet Singh, S.M. Shoaib, Fidel Edwards, Chaminda Vaas and R.P. Singh. Coach: Darren Lehmann.

Somerset Sabres: Justin Langer (capt.), Marcus Trescothick, James Hildreth, Craig Kierswetter, Petre Trego, Arul Suppiah, Alfonso Thomas, Max Waller, Charl Willoughby, Wes Durston, Mark Turner, Jos Buttler and Ben Philips. Coach: Andy Hurry.

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