Given the Champions League T20's rather brief history, records do not appear hugely significant but there can be little denying players their possession of them all the same.
Whatever J.P. Duminy may think of it himself, his 324 runs over three seasons make him the tournament's leading run-scorer. And when on Friday his Cape Cobras side runs into Mumbai Indians at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the South African will revisit the site of his finest knock in the competition.
Against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2009 edition, Duminy pummelled an unbeaten 99, and practically — with the CLT20's prevailing format — also the home side through the exit. Despite his scoring his second fifty later in the semifinals, Cape Cobras went out to Trinidad & Tobago, sunk rather coincidentally by a Dwayne Bravo knock.
On Wednesday at Chennai, his fourth-wicket partnership with Owais Shah had just begun to assume game-changing proportions before he was dismissed. Though Duminy returned a four-wicket haul after the interval, the game ended in defeat for Cobras, complicating the side's path from Group A.
Riding on luck
From this stage, though victory or defeat on Friday may not mathematically guarantee anything, progress is unlikely in the latter scenario. However, ranged against a Mumbai Indians team that has ridden its luck twice, Cobras need not be entirely downcast.
Herschelle Gibbs showed, in the game against New South Wales, that he still hadn't completely gone over the hill, as he and Richard Levi joyfully bullied the bowling around. Shah and Duminy will similarly have been encouraged by their recent efforts. It may be true that with Justin Ontong and Justin Kemp at numbers five and six, the batting does not particularly overwhelm, but save for Lasith Malinga there is not much in Mumbai's bowling group that threatens either.
Trinidad & Tobago's dismissal for 98 on Monday owed a lot to some ill-advised shot-making. The decision to promote wicket-keeper Dane Vilas to one-drop against CSK flopped, and it is likely that he will return to his place further down the order.
Quicker surface
Dale Steyn may not have enjoyed bowling in Chennai but the surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be quicker. The opponent's top order has failed twice, and with compatriot Davy Jacobs out, Steyn will be hopeful of making early inroads.
Mumbai, for its part, will pray its imports find form with the bat. In both its games now, Malinga has outscored Aiden Blizzard, Andrew Symonds, James Franklin and Kieron Pollard. Though it may have given the Sri Lankan opportunity to “pull all the batsmen's legs” (as Rayudu said), the situation will have pleased no one in the side.
Harbhajan Singh was critical of his players in the aftermath of the last-ball win over T&T, feeling the likes of Pollard and Symonds needed to “take more responsibility”. Having been dropped from the Indian one-day squad, Harbhajan himself will have a point to prove.
