Dhoni’s Kings take on IPL champions Kolkata Knights in opening match in City
MS Dhoni led Chennai Super King will take on Gautam Gambhir led side Kolkata Knight Riders in Champions League T20 opening game
Hyderabad: One team has won the inter-continental event back-to-back while the other is the reigning IPL champion itching to go a notch up on the honours list. Sparks are bound to fly as Chennai Super Kings take on Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20 here on Wednesday night. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir face off at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium with an eye on T20’s top prize at club level as they lead their respective sides on to the rain-threatened field.
At first cut, Chennai boasts of a booming squad on paper but Dhoni is wise enough to know that games are won on ground, not on paper. However, names such Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith besides the captain’s himself, can intimidate opposition bowlers. That should be quite a challenge to seamers Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Andre Russell and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. Gambhir will yet again bank on his trump card Sunil Narine’s deceptive deliveries to make a dent.
KKR have not been lucky with their squad strength though, having lost three overseas players - strike bowler Morne Morkel and Chris Lynn to shoulder injuries and allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, whose No Objection Certificate to play was cancelled by the Bangladesh Cricket Board for disciplinary reasons.Chennai has only got stronger. The yellow brigade has been boosted by the return of exciting allrounder Dwayne Bravo, whom they had missed badly at this season’s IPL owing to a shoulder snag.
Captain Gambhir will have to lead KKR from the front when it comes to batting and expect Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey to fire. It won’t be easy though, with the likes of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, a shrewd Bravo and the seaming Smith to deal with. Jadeja too would surely turn his arm over in this department apart from putting his hand up to man important fielding positions along with the athletic du Plessis and Raina.
That gives CSK the ‘complete package’ tag, but it’s another thing to justify it.It’s not just about the big names though. Looking at the event as a whole, the teams have everything to play for with $6 million at stake. Besides, the Champions League provides the perfect platform for fringe players to attract the attention of deep-pocketed IPL franchise owners.
The fact that CSK have played and won more games in the Champions League T20 than KKR points to the power of the Chennai outfit who had triumphed in the 2010 and 2011 editions of the multi-nation event. KKR are desperate to get one against their name.
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