Players sweating it out in the nets and musicians fine-tuning their instruments were contrasting images as the medley of cricket and entertainment played out at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on the eve of the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 tournament’s official launch here on Wednesday.
The tournament, which failed to take off last year due to the terror strikes in Mumbai, will take its first steps on Thursday night with a glitzy opening function paving the way for the contest between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Cape Cobras. The Champions League games will also be held in New Delhi and Hyderabad.
Hopefully, the League will find its voice over the next fortnight that will witness 23 matches featuring 12 teams split into four groups. The top two teams in each group will qualify for a league-cum-knock-out round leading to the semifinals and final. The summit clash will be held at Hyderabad on October 23.
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Full of experience
Thursday’s Group ‘C’ match between Royal Challengers and Cobras is expected to be a keen tussle.
Royal Challengers, with an array of experience in skipper Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Ross Taylor and home-grown talent in seamer R. Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, will also get support from the stands which are expected to fill up in anticipation of the opening ceremony besides the added thrill of watching the home team.
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The team management might play left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe ahead of speedster Dale Steyn as the pitch, which has seen a flurry of Karnataka Premier League matches recently, is expected to aid spin.
Cobras suffered a blow in the lead-up as skipper Graeme Smith pulled out due to injury. Andrew Puttick, who will be captaining the side, believes that he has a team which can deliver the goods.
The experienced Herschelle Gibbs will provide the momentum while J.P. Duminy will lend some calm. The attack features the experienced seamer Charl Langeveldt, the quick Monde Zondeki and spinner Justin Ontong.
Otago, the other team in Group ‘C’ with Craig Cumming at the helm, will hope for fireworks from Brendon McCullum, who made an unbeaten 158 for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League’s inaugural match against Royal Challengers here in 2008.
The 2009 IPL champion Deccan Chargers, captained by Adam Gilchrist and having the explosive Andrew Symonds in its ranks, has an edge in Group ‘A’. This group also has the Justin Langer-led Somerset and Darren Ganga’s Trinidad and Tobago. The Bravo brothers — Dwayne and Darren — will spearhead Trinidad and Tobago’s campaign.
Strong outfit
Group ‘B’ will pit Diamond Eagles — Boeta Dippenaar will steer the ship — against a strong New South Wales which will be guided by skipper Simon Katich and boasts the likes of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Brad Haddin.
The third team in the fray — Sussex Sharks — will rely on Piyush Chawla for wickets as well as the Indian touch while Michael Yardy leads the squad.
In Group ‘D’, the Gautam Gambhir-led Delhi Daredevils, with the destructive Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan in the team, will be hoping to get past Cameron White’s Victoria and Jehan Mubarak’s Wayamba Elevens. The presence of Mahela Jayawardene adds class and sparkle to the Sri Lankan outfit.
The teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: A. Kumble (capt.), R. Dravid, J. Kallis, M. Boucher, R. Taylor, D. Steyn, R. van der Merwe, R. Uthappa, M. Pandey, V. Kohli, Praveen Kumar, R. Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, R. Vinay Kumar and B. Akhil; Coach: Ray Jennings.
Cape Cobras: A. Puttick (capt.), H. Gibbs, J.P. Duminy, D. Brand, R. Canning, H. Davids, S. Engelbrecht, C. Henderson, R. Kleinveldt, C. Langeveldt, R. Levi, J. Ontong, V. Philander, F. Plaatjies and M. Zondeki; Coach: Conrad Shukri.
Umpires: Russell Tiffin and Brian Jerling; Third umpire: S.K. Tarapore; Match referee: S. Venkatraghavan.
Match starts at 8 p.m.