South Australian Redbacks captain Michael Klinger says his team is confident of putting up a special performance as it is aware that it has to beat the best sides to win the championship.
Somerset chief executive Guy Lavender says team ethos and competitive spirit are its strong points. Kolkata Knight Riders captain Jacques Kallis believes that his team is ready for the bigger challenges ahead. And, most importantly, the Johan Botha-led Warriors are on a high after their brilliant victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match on Friday night.
This backdrop ahead of the main draw clashes — Redbacks vs Warriors, KKR vs Somerset — in the Champions League T20 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday, creates an air of expectancy of close-encounters.
The success story of 34-year-old Ashwell Prince, who silenced the critics with stunning stroke-play against Royal Challengers Bangalore, should put to rest that this format is not for the oldies and those branded as ‘Test' players. The 38-year-old Nicky Boje continues to amaze many with his remarkable fitness levels.
Youthful exuberance
And with the youthful exuberance of the likes of young left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla for KKR and the typical English professionalism which the Somerset opener Peter Trego or his teammate and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik displayed in such style the other evening at the same venue. All point to close matches.
Klinger, captain of Redbacks which reached the semifinal of the last edition, said, “we are enjoying our stint in the city having had three days of ‘nets' and a good practice match (against Hyderabad XI).
“We have not yet decided whether we should continue to play the three spinners left-armer Aaron O' Brien, offie Nathan Lyon, leggie Adil Rashid. It will be a huge challenge for them when they play here.
“We have definite plans, especially against the left-arm armers, and it all depends on how well we execute them.”
Jacques Kallis is aware that it will be a different ball game henceforth. “There is no way one can relax. You have to keep winning and that is what we are here for,” he said.
“It would have been fabulous playing in front of a 90,000 crowd back home in Kolkata. But, here too we had crowd support and hope they continue to cheer us tomorrow,” he added.
Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas is pleased that his team crossed the first hurdle — of qualifying — in style with a creditable win against KKR the other night. “We hope to keep the momentum going,” he said.
Curator Y.L. Chandrasekhar said the matches would be played on the same strip which featured the KKR-Somerset match in the qualifying rounds a couple of days ago. This effectively means a pitch with bounce and good carry, more suited to this brand of cricket.
