Lahore Lions vs Dolphins CLT20 2014 Match 14 Preview: Lahore desperately need a victory

Lahore Lions will be facing South African champions Dolphins in an important match of Champion’s League T20 (ClT20) 2014. The match is vital for both team’s future in this tournament. Specially for Lahore Lions the game is more crucial as their last match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was called off due to rain. Sandipan Banerjee previews this important match of Group A. 

Lahore Lions and Dolphins will take each other in a crucial Group A match at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday. This match is virtually a knock out game for both the teams as they are yet to win a match in the main stages of this year’s CLT20.

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Lahore played two Indian Premier League (IPL) teams in their first two matches of the main stage. Against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) they fought well and dragged the match till the last over. But their second game against CSK was rainned off without a ball being bowled, which means Lahore have only two points from their two matches.

With KKR already qualified for semis and Dolphins poor showing and poor net run-rate, now it seems that the competition are among CSK, Perth Scorchers and Lahore for the one remaining spot in the semis from the group. This makes this match more important for Lahore, who impressed everyone with their performance at the qualifying round.

Dolphins on the other hand would like to make some impression in the tournament by upsetting Lahore in this game. Lot was expected from the South African champions but they failed to live upto their expectations and they are virtually out of the tournament now. To keep themselves mathematically alive in CLT20 2014, Dolphins must need to win this game against the Pakistan T20 champions.

Lahore will start the game as favourites with their all experience international players and a well balanced bowling attack. But the short boundaries at Chinnaswamy will give the Dolphin hitters equal opportunities to counter Lahore’s advantage. But the weather forecast for Bengaluru on Saturday is again not very good. There are 80% chance of thunderstorms and rain during the match, which will keep both captains worried ahead of this crucial encounter.

Squads

Lahore Lions: Mohammad Hafeez (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Siddique Khan, Mohammad Umar Akmal (wk), Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Salman Ali, Asif Raza, Mohammad Mustafa Iqbal, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Imran Ali, Saad Naseem, Adnan Rasool, Mohammad Saeed, Ali Manzoor.

Dolphins: Morne van Wyk(c), Cameron Delport, Cody Chetty, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Khayelihle Zondo, Daryn Smit(wk), Andile Phehlukwayo, Robert Frylinck, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Abbott, Craig Alexander.

Time: 10:30 GMT | 16:00 IST

Complete coverage of Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 here

(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)