Aware that only an outright win with a healthy margin can clear their Super Eight passage, Indian Premier League champions Deccan Chargers would go for the jugular when they take on Trinidad & Tobago in their last Group A match of the Champions League Twenty20 here on Wednesday.
Somerset is the only team in this group to have completed their league campaign, sneaking to a tense victory against the Chargers in their openers before crashing to a 44-run defeat against T&T.
In such a scenario, Adam Gilchrist and his Deccan teammates have little choice but to go for an outright win and hope their net run rate sees them through to the Super Eight stage.
Things would not have been so complicated for the IPL outfit had they clinched the thriller against Somerset.
The likes of Fidel Edwards, R. P. Singh, Pragyan Ojha or Scott Styris could not break the 50-run ninth wicket stand between James Hildreth and Alfredo Thomas and that cost them the match.
Their batting looks formidable on paper but what the team expects from Gilchrist is sustained aggression and not just brief, brisk knocks.
His opening partner V. V. S. Laxman, however, looks in silken touch and proved a batsman doesn’t necessarily have to play ugly to score fast.
But to give their bowlers a good total to defend, Deccan need Andrew Symonds to fire and Rohit Sharma to replicate the same red hot form he had displayed in the IPL.
In their bowling unit, R. P. Singh looked dangerous while Ojha also got a couple of wickets against Somerset but Edwards and Harmeet Singh need to raise their game at a time when the team is staring at an early exit from the tournament.
While there would be desperation in the Deccan camp, Trinidad & Tobago would be high on confidence following their 44-run win against Somerset.
The team under Daren Ganga looked a close-knit unit in their lone outing so far. Openers Lendl Simmons and William Perkins proved they know their business, while Denesh Ramadin assured he could be equally reliable both in front of and behind the stumps.
Dwayne Bravo’s presence lends a sharp look to their attack, while spin twins Dave Mohammad and Sherwin Ganga can also prove quite a handful for their opponents.
Teams (from):
Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (C), VVS Laxman, Venugopal Rao, Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris, Shoaib Ahmed, Rohit Sharma, Harmeet Singh, Chaminda Vaas, T Suman, RP Singh, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Harris, Pragyan Ojha and Azhar Bilakhia.
Trinidad and Tobago: Daren Ganga (C), Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Dave Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons, Navin Stewart
