After months of traditional cricket its now hit-every-ball-out-of-the-park time with Champions League T20 qualifying matches kick off, with Sri Lanka’s Southern Express lock horns with New Zealand’s Northern Knights in the opening tie.
The sub-continent conditions are expected to favour the Islanders but missing key players in the tournament will surely hurt their chances. Speedster Lasith Malinga is playing for Mumbai Indians, while Tillakaratne Dilshan has opted to pull out citing personal reasons.
There are big responsibilities on players like Farvez Maharoof, stand-in skipper Jehan Mubarak and Kusal Perera. The Sri Lankans certainly don’t have firepower like other teams in the qualifying but they are a talented bunch of players.
It is difficult to fill the void left by the departure of Malinga and Dilshan but Mubarak insisted that being underdogs in the competition will fall to their advantage and it will also help them overcoming from unwanted pressure.
“As lesser known opponents, with no big stars in our ranks, things will work in our favour,” Mubarak said. “When the opposition doesn’t know what to expect, the advantage is ours. We’ll be more at ease when we are the underdogs and not have to worry about outside pressures.”
Meanwhile, Knights have plenty of firepower and international names in the squad, such as Trent Boult, Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and BJ Watling. The Kiwis are a balanced team and are heading into the rubber as favorites.
The bowling attack, in particular, of the New Zealand team is lethal as they have Bolt and Southee that are among the top-10 bowlers in the international cricket, while leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also has quite a bit of international cricket under his belt.
“I think we have a pretty well rounded squad,” Knights skipper Daniel Flynn said. “We have two quality swing bowlers who are ranked in the top ten Test ratings (Trent Boult and Tim Southee) and we are looking to make use of their experience.”
“And we have a lot experience in our batting lot with proven international players,” he added. “So we are a well-rounded squad. And we are going to field well so that is going to be an important aspect of our game.”
Squads: Northern Knights: Ish Sodhi, Jono Boult, Brad Wilson, Kane Williamson, Daniel Flynn, BJ Watling, Graeme Aldridge, Anton Devcich, Tim Southee, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Daniel Harris, Scott Styris and Trent Boult.
Southern Express: Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunatilake, Angelo Perera, Jehan Mubarak, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Seekuge Prasanna, Ishan Jayaratne, Farvez Maharoof, Kasun Madushanka, Yasoda Lanka, Charith Jayampathi, Sachith Pathirana and Sandaken Lakshen.
