With the main draw of Champions League T20 getting underway all eyes would be on Indian players.
India did not have a very a good outing at the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and more than anything, they will try to erase the bad memories of the T20 extravaganza in Sri Lanka where they failed to get past the Super Eights stages.
In the 10 team affair, Indian Premier League will see four of its teams playing in the tournament and they are the defending champions Mumbai Indians(MI), 2012 IPL winner Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Daredevils (DD).
While Knight Riders and Daredevils are clubbed in grouped A, Chennai and Mumbai are in group B. Top four teams will qualify for the semifinals.
After a disappointing tournament in Sri Lanka, all the four teams will want to go the distance and will want to redeem themselves but then will face a staunch challenge from the rival teams.
Knight Riders and Daredevils are grouped along with Auckland Aces (New Zealand), Perth Scorchers (Australia) and Titans (South Africa), while the other group apart from the two IPL outfits have Highveld Lions (South Africa), Sydney Sixers (Australia) and Yorkshire (England).
Now these teams are the best in their respective country and in no way will surrender meekly.
Indian campaign in the tournament will start today when the heavyweights Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Daredevils lock horns against each other in the second match of the day. Both these teams have genuine match winners in their arsenal and odds are stacked up evenly.
They had a very good IPL season and what will help these two teams is that the knowledge about each other’s strength and weaknesses.
Gautam Gambhir, the skipper of KKR would want to look to continue his winning run from IPL, while for Mahela Jayawerdene, who took over the reins from Virender Sehwag before the tournament will have to try and compensate for his average performance with the bat so far.
Super Sunday as one would like to call it seeing the matches that have been lined up will be a sizzler. First up would be the two times champions CSK taking on the Sydney Sixers. CSK will have their task cut out in the match especially due the kind of players Sydney boasts of. Led by Brad Haddin, they have the dangerous Shane Watson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins amongst other and they will surely pack a punch in the tournament.
And in the next match, Mumbai Indians will take on the local favourites Highveld Lions. It is not a very easy match for the defending champions to start off with, and they will have to come out all guns blazing if they want to start off their title defence on a smooth note.
Talking about the Indian Teams in the competition, they do have great chances of going the distance, but then how they play on the given day will matter the most. Delhi Daredevils looks the strongest off all the IPL teams here and with the likes of David Warner, Kevin Peitersen, Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawerdene, a victory for them is very much on the cards. For KKR, it has skipper Gautam Gambhir who has led the team from the front in the 5th edition of the IPL and his captaincy skills will once again be put to test.
For CSK, it will be a testing ground for Dhoni, and he would be looking to prove that he has not lost his touch as a skipper as commented by everyone after India’s horrid performance in the T20 World Cup.
And Sachin Tendulkar’s presence in Mumbai Indians’ line up is enough to lift their spirit up and start their campaign on a much confident note.
By Indian Sports News Network