Champions League T20 - The Final Showdown - Flair Versus Professionalism

The battle lines are drawn for the finals of the inaugural Champions League T20 - it is going to be the flair and natural attacking game of the Caribbean team versus the disciplined and strategic professionalism of the team from Down Under.

The momentum and the crowds, the bookies and even the Gods seem to be with the red brigade from Trinidad and Tobago. They have swept all before them, much in the same fashion as the hurricanes in that part of the world. And the boys do seem to be in a hurry, going from strength to strength as the tournament progressed. There is a lot of joy, both in their cricket and for those who have waited a long time to see the Windies style of cricket of the 70s.

The onus of planning for the finals seems to lie entirely on the shoulders of Simon Katich, the NSW Blues captain, as the T&T play their cricket very simply - straight from their heart. Katich's problems start right from the toss - if he wins the toss, should he bat first, relying on the form and power of Warner, while telling Hughes not to go for the singles and to play dot balls if they cannot be hit for a boundary or over the ropes? Surely, the bowling of the T&T side is their weaker link and the initiative gained from the start by attacking this chink in their armour. Or should he choose to bowl first and have Henriques complete his quota on the trot, to avoid a replay of the episode with Pollard? Should he prefer to let the opposing batsmen play a longer innings to give Dwayne Bravo and Pollard fewer balls to smash out of the park? Obviously, butter is out of the day's breakfast menu for the Aussies - you cannot take the chance of having butter-fingered fielders like the Cobras, knowing that the T&T boys prefer the aerial route, as seen from the high number of sixers they hit in their innings. Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Moises Henriques, Doug Bollinger and Nathan Hauritz have been successful in restricting their opponents to small scores, except for the blitz from Pollard, and this might prompt Katich to favour putting the opposition win. But I feel, this is one toss Katich would not mind losing, as T&T have put up the tournaments's highest score when they batted first.

All said, one can expect a real contest on the cards. The stakes are high - David Warner and Phil Hughes may be fancying their chances of overtaking Duminy as the tournaments top scorer; Dwayne Bravo would like to prove he is the leading all rounder and Pollard would like to enhance his reputation. All this is addition to the ultimate prize - the Champion's Trophy.

My take - I would put my money on the Trinidad and Tobago team - they are on a roll, jell well as a team enjoying each other's success, enjoy their game, have adjusted to their adopted home ground with a 100% win record, much to the disbelief of the actual home team, the Deccan Chargers, and they have beaten the NSW Blues once before, so there's nothing to stop them from believing that they can do it again.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Trinidad & Tobago

Brian Charles Lara played for the Trinidad & Tobago team in the Caribbean domestic matches. With that one statement, one can conclude the introduction to this team. But let's say more - the team has 2 pairs of brothers - Dwayne & Darren Bravo and Daren (the captain) & Sherwin Ganga. Dwayne Bravo has come to be the face of West Indian cricket in recent times - he is always in the thick of the action, be it batting, bowling or fielding, as seen from his performance in the IPL-2 and the T20 World Cup. The Stanford 20/20 Cup was established in 2006 and Trinidad & Tobago have an impressive record in the 2 seasons it was held. They lost the finals to Guyana in 2006 but cantered to a comfortable win in 2008 against Jamaica, to earn the right to represent the Windies in the Champions League.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 12
Matches Won - 8
Matches Lost - 3
No Result - 1

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
William Perkins, Daren Ganga, Denesh Ramdin & Kieron Pollard

Bowlers -
Dave Mohammed, Samuel Badree, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Wayamba Elevens

Wayamba in Sinhalese is North West and it is therefore no surprise that the Wayamba Elevens represent the North West Province in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, the local championship now being called The Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Tournament. Five teams participate in the domestic tournament, instituted in 2004-05. In the 2009 season finals, Wayamba beat Basnahira South to qualify for the Champions League as the lone team from the Emerald Isle.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 14
Matches Won - 11
Matches Lost - 2
No Result - 1

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
Mahela Jayawardene, the current Lankan captain, is the leading batsman for the team and has the experience and ability to be counted among the best; batsmen Jehan Mubarak , the captain of this side, Michael Vandort and all rounders Farveez Maharoof, K Lokuarachchi have played international cricket and are handy with the bat, while Mahela Udawatte is considered to be a promising talent.

Bowlers -
Ajantha Mendis, the mystery bowler, leads the attack and should be a thorn in the flesh of the sides that traditionally have a problem dealing with spinners; Rangana Herath lends variety to the attack with his left arm spin; K Lokuarachchi is the leg spinner and the pacers I Amerasinghe, Farveez Maharoof ensure that the bowling attack is well experienced.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Sussex Sharks

The Sussex Sharks won the 2009 Twenty 20 Cup beating the Somerset Sabres in the finals. Sussex, is supposed to be the birthplace of cricket, but the team had to wait for more than a century to claim their first English County Championship and this success was followed by a couple of more triumphs. Piyush Chawla followed the footsteps of his legendry compatriots Ranjitsinghji and the Nawab of Pataudi, when he was signed to play for the Sharks and Pakistani Yasir Arafat, the only Pakistani to feature in the Champions League T20, followed the example of the charismatic Imran Khan. Dwayne Smith of the West Indies was responsible for the Sharks win in the finals against the Sabres.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 57
Matches Won - 29
Matches Lost - 25
No Result - 3

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
Luke Wright, the English international, has a century against his name in this form of the game and can be counted on for some big hitting; Dwayne Smith, the West Indian, can add some Carribean flavour to this English side.

Bowlers -
James Kirtley is the leading wicket taker for this team; Yasir Arafat, all rounders Dwayne Smith and Luke Wright and Indian leg spinner Piyush Chawla provide variety in the bowling department.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Deccan Chargers

When the team was announced, everyone picked the Deccan Chargers as the favorites to win IPL-1. Big names like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi, Chaminda Vaas, VVS Laxman and the T20 World Cup winning team members Rohit Sharma and RP Singh being the reason for this thinking. However, the team finished as wooden spoonists inthe first edition, a key parameter being their inability to win a single "home" match. With the IPL-2 being played in South Africa, the Chargers did not have to worry about their dismal home record, and coupled with a captaincy change, with Gilchrist replacing Laxman, the team went from strength to strength to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who finished one rung above them in IPL-1, in a well contested finals, thereby fulfilling their potential, albeit a year later than expected.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 30
Matches Won - 11
Matches Lost - 19

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
Adam Gilchrist, is a big match player and is awesome to watch when on song. One of the reasons for the team's success in IPL-2 was his ability to lead from the front; Rohit Sharma was in the running for the top batting honors in IPL-1 but did not have such a good run in the second season; Andrew Symonds can be destructive as he showed in a match against the Rajasthan Royals in IPL-1. However, he went from hero, after scoring a blazing century, to villain, in a matter of 20 overs, after allowing Shane Warne to milk his bowling, thereby handing the Royals an unexpected victory; VVS Laxman and Venugopal Rao can turn on the heat too.

Bowlers -
RP Singh is the teams main strike bowler, without a doubt. He has been consistent in both the IPL seasons and can be relied to be economic while also providing the team with early breakthroughs; Pragyan Ojha may well have been the spinner of the IPL seasons, even in the presence of more reputed and experienced spinners; Rohit Sharma made up for the lack of batting form in IPL-2 by being the surprise part-time bowler of the tournament, claiming a hat-trick in the bargain as icing on the cake.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Somerset Sabres

In the 70s, Somerset were represented by two of the biggest names, and most entertaining cricketers, in international cricket, best buddies Viv "Smokin' Joe" Richards and Ian "Beefy" Botham, in the English county. Add to this, Joel "Big Bird" Garner, and the team is strong enough to send shivers down the backs of their opponents. The current team may not be as strong, but they get their chance of representing England in the tournament, the format first being played in England to revive sagging spectator interest. Somerset lost to the Sussex Sharks in this year's Twenty 20 Cup, thereby qualifying as one of the two teams from England.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 59
Matches Won - 25
Matches Lost - 29
Matches Tied - 1
No Result - 4

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
Marcus Trescothick, the attacking southpaw opener seems to have rediscovered his love for the game and an appetite for runs; Justin Langer, is the captain of the side and the diminutive opener, who represented Australia and was part of the formidable opening pair with Matthew Hayden, should be among the runs;

Bowlers -
Charl Willoughby, Alfonso Thomas, Ben Phillips

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Otago Volts

New Zealand's domestic T20 Championship is called the State T20, after the tournament's sponsor - State Insurance and was established in 2006. Otago Volts were scheduled to play Canterbury in this year's finals of the State T20 tournament, but as the final was washed out, Otago Volts were declared winners as they finished ahead of Canterbury on conclusion of the league stage, thereby winning their first major trophy and qualifying as the only team from New Zealand to play in the Champion's League.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 20
Matches Won - 10
Matches Lost - 9
No Reault - 1

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -

Brendon McCullum provided a dream start to the IPL when he went berserk for the Kolkota Knight Riders in their inaugural match against Royal Challengers, Bangalore, to record an amazing 150 plus. However, he has been unable to reproduce that form in subsequent matches and would also like to forget his stint as captain of KKR in IPL-2; Dmitri Mascarenhas is known for his big hitting as we saw in one over of Yuvraj Singh where he took Yuvi to the cleaners in an ODI; Aaron Redmond is a steady opener and fared reasonably well in the recently concluded Champions Trophy; Hamish Rutherford is the son of former Kiwi batsman Ken Rutherford and is quite an attacking batsman, unlike his father.

Bowlers -

Dmitri Mascarenhas, the all rounder, is capable of taking wickets and is considered as a specialist in the shorter versions of the game (and I am not being biased because we share the surname); Nathan McCullum, the younger brother of Brendon, should do well with his off-spinners; Ian Butler has represented the Kiwis in international cricket and has a reasonably good record.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Victorian Bushrangers

The team with the proudest record in T20 cricket, the Victorian Bushrangers will be the team to beat in the tournament. Though they lost this season's KFC T20 Big Bash to the NSW Blues, they have the best record among the participating teams, having won their domestic torunament for the previous 2 seasons in a row, since its inception. The team is led by the big hitting Cameron White and has batsmen Brad Hodge and David Hussey, allrounder Andrew McDonald and bowlers Peter Siddle and Shane Harwood in their ranks. This may be the only team to have more than one T20 centurion in their ranks, with Cameron White, Brad Hodge and David Hussey recording centuries. Cameron White held the record for the highest individual score before it was obliterated by Brendon McCullum in the inaugural IPL match in 2008.

Match Record:

Matches played - 20
Matches Won - 16
Matches Lost - 4

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -
David Hussey, the younger brother of Mr. Cricket Mike Hussey, is tailor made for instant cricket and has the advantage of having played in India before. His record is in sync with his reputation and ability as he is the side's leading sixer hitter, with the best average and strike rate; Cameron White is in good form as seen in the Champions Trophy; Brad Hodge is the team's leading run getter and is a model of consistency with a century and five 50s for his side.

Bowlers -
Peter Siddle is the closest the Aussies have come to find someone like Glen McGrath; Shane Harwood is the leading wicket taker for this team.

Champions Leagur T20 - Know the Teams - Delhi Daredevils

If it was Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who stole the thunder for the Daredevils in IPL-1, then it was AB de Villiers and Tilakaratne Dilshan who were the star performers with the bat in IPL-2. All it took was one bad show with the bat against Rajasthan Royals for the talented team from Delhi to be ousted from the IPL-2. In IPL-2, it was a different story - the Daredevils came face to face with a red hot Adam Gilchrist in the semis. The Daredevils qualified for the Champions Leage by virtue of having topped the table in the League stage. Drawn in Group D, the Daredevils (D1) play their first match against the Victorian Bushrangers (D2) on the 9th of October. The Daredevils will be without AB de Villiers, Dave Warner (representing NSW Blues) and Daniel Vettori. This should enable Glen McGrath have a bowl after having had to sit out the IPL-2. Daredevils also have a new captain in Gautam Gambhir, after Sehwag's decision to forego the captaincy in favour of his close friend and fellow opener.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 30
Matches Won - 17
Matches Lost - 13

Playes to watch out for:

Batsmen -
Virender Sehwag all are familiar with his one liners "have bat, will hit" or "the ball is meant to be hit" and he must be raring to have a go after a long rest to recovery from injury. As expected, he has the best strike rate for his side (and maybe of the whole lot); Tilakaratne Dilshan - is rediscovering himself as a destructive batsman and could be at his most dangerous if captain Gambhir decides to come in at number 3, giving Dilshan to have a go at the bowers first; Gautam Gambhir is in the form of his life and, even though is the least flashy compared to Sehwag and Dilshan, is the most likely to get the most runs once settled. It remains to be seen if the burden of captaincy affects his scoring ability and one hopes that it does not for he is the side's leading run accumulator; Dinesh Karthik many may find it strange to see his name here, but Karthik is quite capable of proving everyone wrong but being a match-winner, specially if the wicket is not conducive to stroke play.

Bowlers -
Ashish Nehra made his way back into Team India on the strength of his good showing in IPL-2 and has continued to impress since his comeback; Dirk Nannes Dutch or Aussie, the guy is quick. The team will rely on his ability to get an early breakthrough; Glen McGrath - the old master of line and length can still be relied upon to produce a tight spell and account for some wickets to boot; Amit Mishra is the side's leading wicket taker' has a hat-trick in T20s and should shoulder the spin burden in the absence of Vettori.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Diamond Eagles

Diamond Eagles finished runner-up to Cape Cobras in the Standard Bank Pro 20 Series in the last season to qualify for the tournament. A young side led by former South African top order batsman Boeta Dippenaar, the side could well produce some upsets as not much is known about the players, which could hinder the strategy planning of the opponents.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 42
Matches Won - 22
Matches Lost - 17
Matches Tied - 2
No Result - 1

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -

Boeta Dippenaar is a steady batsman rather than a dasher and should take on the role of anchoring the innings, Morne van Wyk, the team's wicket-keeper is also a leading batsman and is just 7 short of a 1000 runs in this form of the game, Ryan MCLaren is the team's leading all-rounder

Bowlers -

Ryan McLaren will have to shoulder more responsibility in the absence of Telemachus, van der Wath and Nicky Boje, Thandi Tshabalala is the team's leading wicket taker with the best strike rate and economy rate too of the lot.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - NSW Blues

Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Simon Katich, David Warner, Phil Hughes, Nathan Hauritz, Dominic Thornley, Doug Bollinger, Ben Rohrer, Mark Cameron, Nathan Bracken... sounds like the Australian team? Well, it is a team from Australia - the New South Wales Blues laso known as the Speed Blitz Blues. NSW have the reputation of being the barometer of Australian cricket - all is well with Australian cricket if the NSW team is doing well. Don Bradman, Richie Benaud, Steve Waugh and Glen McGrath have all represented NSW in first class matches. NSW Blues won the last edition of the KFC T20 Big Bash, thereby qualifying for the Champions League, but will be without the services of Mark Cameron and Nathan Bracken. Drawn in Group B along side Diamond Eagles and Sussex Sharks, NSW (B1) play their first match against the Eagles at the Kotla on 9th October.

Match Record:

Matches Played - 18
Matches Won - 8
Matches Lost - 10

Players to watch out for -

Batsmen:

Simon Katich has the experience of playing T20 in India, having represented Kings XI Punjab; Dave Warner the explosive opener who made a strong impression against South Africa, playing his first international series; Dominic Thornley has the experience of playing in India too and should make good use of the fielding restrictions in the power play overs.

Bowlers:

Brett Lee back from injury and after a good run at the Champions Trophy, Brett Lee should do well. He has a huge fan following in India, having recorded a song with Asha Bhosle, and also for being the most lovable and sporting Aussie; Dominic Thornley features among the bowlers too, having been quite successful in the past. If you want a third and fourth name, look out for Aaron Bird and allrounder Moises Henriques.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Cape Cobras

The Standard Bank P20 championships in South Africa is the equivalent of the India's DLF IPL and the Cape Cobras are the current champions of their home tournament, thereby qualifying them as one of the 2 teams from South Africa to participate in the Champions League. The team is captained by batsman Andrew Puttick and counts Herschelle Gibbs and Jean-Paul Duminy amongst its ranks. JP Duminy is a known name in India, having represented South Africa in recent times, but is more well-known for having an outstanding IPL-2 with Mumbai Indians, their new recruit after season 1. As Mumbai Indians have not qualified for the Champions League, Duminy does not face the problem that Gibbs had. In the IPL, Gibbs plays for the Deccan Chargers Hyderabad, who qualified for this year's Champions League after winning IPL-2. Other players of Cape Cobras to have represented South africa in international cricket at one point of time or the other are bowlers Monde Zondeki (Once nick -named the black Allan Donald), Charl Langeveldt, allrounder Vernon Philander and batsman Justin Ontong. H Davids has scored the only sentury in T20 matches for the Cape Cobras.

Overall T20 Record

Matches played - 40
Matches won - 22
Matches lost - 15
Matches Ties - 2
No result - 1

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen - JP Duminy - top run getter for the team with 752 T20 runs in 31 matches with an average of 31.33 and strike rate of 114.11. The pinch hitter of the team is RK Kleinveldt with a strike rate of 160.28, mainly due to being the leading sixer hitter in this side with 24 sixers in 37 matches.

Bowlers - Charl Langeveldt by a mile. He has the most wickets (34 from 15 matches), best economy rate (5.94 runs per over), best bowling figures of 5/16, best average of 9.79 runs per wicket, best strike rate of 9.8 balls per wicket.

Champions League T20 - Know the Teams - Royal Challengers Bangalore

The inaugural match of the Champions League T20 is between the Vijay Mallya owned Royal Challengers Bangalore (Team C1) and Cape Cobas (Team C2) of South Africa, to be played at Bangalore on the 8th of October 2009, at 8:00 pm IST.

After a poor first season, when RCB finished second last, the teams fortunes were dramatically reversed in Season 2 when they finished runners-up to Deccan Chargers Hyderabad in the IPL. What is more surprising, is that the team managed the turn-around after their star player, Kevin Peterson, who promised much but delivered little, left the team for the Ashes series. After being labelled a "test team" in IPL Season 1, with the likes of Rahul "The Wall" Dravid and Jacques Kallis in its line-up, all it took was one inspiring knock by Ross Taylor, who won the match almost single-handedly against the Kolkota Knight riders, from a near impossible position. Coming in at the fall of the second wicket at 63, in the 10th over, chasing a target of 174, Taylor blazed his way to an unbeaten 81 of 33 balls, carving 7 boundaries and 5 sixers in his innings. IN the last league match, Manish Pandey became the first and only Indian to score a century in IPL-2 against Deccan Chargers Hyderabad and this ensured he got a "earful of batting advice" from Andrew Symonds, when the two teams met the next time in the finals.

RCB has it fair share of good bowlers for this format - you can hardly find anyone more miserly than Anil Kumble who rediscovered himself in IPL-2 after retiring from Test cricket. Throw in Dale Steyn, one of the world's fastest bowlers, Praveen Kumar and all-rounder Jacques Kallis and you have a formidable attack. And one should not forget Robin Uthappa's ability as a bowler - who can forget the "hat salute" act of his after he hit the stumps in the tie-breaker against Pakistan in the inaugural T20 World Cup. Mark Boucher, Jesse Ryder, van der Merwe and Virat Kohli are the other international players in this team.

Match Record
Matches Played - 30
Matches Won - 13
Matches Lost - 17

Players to watch out for:

Batsmen -

Rahul "The Wall" Dravid is the leading scorer for the team with 642 runs from 27 matches; Ross Taylor has the best strike rate of 148.44 runs per 100 balls faced, having scored his 429 runs in just 15 matches; Manish Pandey is the young sensation who has the distinction of being the only Indian to score a century in IPL-2 and he is the only centurion for this team, which makes his average of 84 after 5 matches look very impressive.

Bowlers -

Anil Kumble has the best record on all parameters - most wickets (28 in 26 matches), best bowling figures (5/5), best economy rate (6.67 runs per over), best average (23.25 runs per wicket) and best strike rate (20.8 balls per wicket) for the team; Dale Steyn can be dangerous provided he stays fit and gets a chance to play; Praveen Kumar is the next best bet for RCB