After notching up a thumping win in their tournament opener, Chennai Super Kings would be favourites to register another victory when they take on Sri Lanka’s Wayamba Elevens in the Champions League Twenty20 match here on Wednesday.
Chennai have had a fantastic start to the tournament by thrashing Central Districts by 57 runs. It was not a very convincing performance with the bat though as the top-order let the team down.
Big-hitters such as Matthew Hayden and Suresh Raina are crucial to the team’s chances of posting big totals or chasing stiff targets and the duo will look to strike form early when they step on the pitch.
If they can give the team a strong start, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai side has enough firepower in the lower half to take the team to a good total. The hard-hitters in the lower half include Albie Morkel and Dhoni himself.
Their bowling is no less impressive with Aussie pace star Doug Bollinger and Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan in their ranks.
Laxmipathy Balaji was also impressive with an impressive three-wicket haul in the opening match against Central Districts.
Wayamba, on the other hand, put on a decent batting effort in their opening match but fell short with the ball against South African domestic champion side Warriors.
Arguably the biggest star of the line-up, skipper Mahela Jayawardene, was off-colour in the lung-opener and was dismissed for a duck but lesser known faces such as Jeevantha Kulatunga and Kushal Perera rose to the occasion.
And the side would need to put up another spirited show to have any chance of upstaging the star-studded Chennai.
Wayamba’s bowling has some recognisable names such as mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and pacers Farveez Maharoof and Chanaka Welegedara but they didn’t quite live up to the expectations in the opening match.
In the other match of the day, Central Districts will face off against Victoria Bushrangers at the same venue with both the teams hoping to open their account in the tournament.
The Central Districts had collapsed against Chennai, while Victoria were beaten by the Warriors.
Central Districts were thoroughly outplayed in the opening match and would have to raise their game by several notches up to match to David Hussey’s Victoria, who despite being beaten in their opening match, would be a handful for the Kiwi team.
