Monday’s games in the Twenty20 Champions League see Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Otago and Somerset will meet Trinidad and Tobagothe. Both the games will be played on M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Group: A – Somerset v Trinidad and Tobago:
Time and Venue: 16:00 local -10:30 GMT, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
Somerset was surprise winners over the Deccan Chargers in their opening game and another win here will see them top the group. Alfonso Thomas was the Somerset hero with his 30 runs off 17 deliveries seeing Somerset home off the final ball for a thrilling one wicket win. It was a tremendous match and a great performance from Somerset against one of the tournament favourites.
Though, Somerset defeated Deccan Chargers in their first match by one wicket on Saturday. But they have struggled for a good partnership against Chargers, none of their top and middle order batsmen looked like taking the responsibility. Somerset could consider them lucky to escape with a win.
This is out first look at Trinidad and Tobago who are led by Daren Ganga. Watch out for the Bravo brothers who along with Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Simmons return to action after missing the recent West Indian matches due to a player / administration dispute.
Somerset move on from Hyderabad to Bangalore with the significant advantage of having a game, and a win under their belts. That said, Trinidad have played a warm match at this ground which they won comfortably and their big players may not be quite as rusty as feared after so little competitive cricket lately. The only match played here so far saw 180 posted and successfully chased down so we could be in for a good contest. I think Somerset can beat the T and T.
Group C – Royal Challengers Bangalore v Otago:
Tme and Venue: 20:00 local -14:30 GMT, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore and Otago square up in what is effectively an eliminator as far as qualification from the group is concerned. The Cape Cobras are already through as group winners having beaten both of these sides. It is a virtual knockout match for both Anil Kumble-led Royal Challengers and Craig Cumming’s Otago Volts as the winners will progress to the League Stage of the tournament as the second team from Group C.
If we use the Cape Cobras as the form line, RCB were beaten by 5 wickets with 2 balls remaining though it took a monumental innings from JP Duminy to overhaul their score of 180. The Royal Challengers lost to Cobras despite a good batting performance and it was a mixture of poor bowling and Jean Paul Duminy’s batting pyrotechnics that did them in.
The Cobras made short work of Otago in Hyderabad; they set Otago a target of 194 and then bowled out the Kiwi side for 139 to run out winners by 54 runs. That would seem to give RCB the edge, especially as it is Otago’s first game at the ground.
For Bangalore, bowling remains their biggest worry which is clearly during their inability to defend a 180-run targets against the Cobras expose the frailties of their leather-flingers. Praveen Kumar has been among the wickets but could not stem the run flow while Vinay Kumar, Roelof van der Merwe and even Kumble looked clueless against Duminy.
Thoug they had good batting line up as Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor are in good nick and any batting order that includes the likes of Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher is bound to keep their opponent sleepless nights.
Kiwi’s bowling looked pretty ordinary and Cumming was clueless when Andrew Puttick went after the bowlers during his unbeaten 62-ball hurricane knock of 104.
Despite having Kiwi internationals like the McCullum brothers, Brendon and Nathan, Aaron Redmond and Neil Broom besides English all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, there is a certain brittle look about the top order and they would have to raise their games by a few notches tomorrow to get back to winning ways.
CL T20 Cricket Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Anil Kumble (captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Balachandra Akhil, Rajesh Bishnoi, Mark Boucher, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Manish Pandey, Dale Steyn, Ross Taylor, Robin Uthappa, Roelof van der Merwe, Vinay Kumar.
Otago Volts: Craig Cumming (captain), Nick Beard, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Derek de Boorder, Matt Harvie, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, James McMillan, Warren McSkimming, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Greg Todd, Neil Wagner.
Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi
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