By R Eswar
CSK would aim to inch closer to a semi-final berth while group laggards T&T would look for their first win of the tournament when the two sides clash in a Champions League Twenty20 encounter on Sunday.
Published: Oct 01, 2011, 02:36 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 01, 2011, 02:36 PM (IST)
CSK would want to ensure that there are no further hiccups in their quest to reach the CLT20 semi-finals with a win over T&T © Getty Images
By R Eswar
Chennai: Oct 1, 2011
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings would aim to inch closer to a semi-final berth while group laggards Trinidad and Tobago would look for their first win of the tournament when the two sides clash in a Champions League Twenty20 encounter on Sunday.
With a win and a loss so far, Chennai would want to ensure that there are no further hiccups and their passage to the semis is smooth by winning the remaining two league engagements.
Group A has been thrown wide open after rain denied an outright win to Mumbai Indians against Cape Cobras in Bangalore last night and the teams were forced to split points.
Mumbai Indians — without the services of key players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel — have kept a clean slate winning both their matches against Chennai Super Kings and Trinidad and Tobago and then draw a match with Cape Cobras to tally five points.
Chennai have won one from two outings for two points and should clinch both their matches to progress to the semifinal stage.
Winning two more matches would mean that they will finish with six points and a win for MI would mean that they would be in a safer position with seven points.
New South Wales are also to play two more ties — against Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday.
Going by the hosts’ performance in their last two outings on the newly-laid pitches here, Chennai’s batsmen have looked unsettled.
Losing to an injury-ravaged Mumbai Indians came as a shock to the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side which is also the reigning IPL champion and boasts of proven international performers such as the in-form duo of Dwayne Bravo and Michael Hussey.
One factor that works in favour of the Chennai is playing on home turf. Chennai have won nine of their 10 matches here making them quite a force in their own backyard and given that Trinidad and Tobago are not in particularly good form, the hosts can fancy their chances of keeping that reputation intact.
The Daren Ganga-led Trinidad and Tobago have found it tough to cope with the conditions and it would be quite an upset if they manage to come out trumps on Sunday.
Missing key stars such Kieron Pollard (with Mumbai Indians) and Bravo (Chennai Super Kings), Trinidad and Tobago have so far lacked the spunk which took them to the finals in 2009.
They have twice squandered winning opportunities in the event to be without points so far but despite the debacles, the side cannot be written off.
Players such as young batsman Adrian Barath and allrounder Darren Bravo are capable of turning around games and the team would look up to them to deliver the goods from here on.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings (Probable): Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, MS Dhoni (c&wk), Albie Morkel, Dwayne Bravo, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati
Trinidad & Tobago (Probable): Daren Ganga (c), Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Sherwin Ganga, Jason Mohammed, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons
Time: 20.00 local (14.30 GMT)
