It is tempting to label the Champions League T20 qualifiers here as a three-horse race between the Asian teams, for very obvious reasons. Familiarity with conditions can often be a decisive factor in cricket — even in a rough-and-tumble, super-abbreviated format like 40-over cricket.
Yet therein also lies the danger of underestimation, especially of teams containing players not too well known outside their own borders. By that estimation, the men from New Zealand in the form of the Otago Volts are in a not too literal sense, the dark horses when pitted against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (India), Faislabad Wolves (Pakistan) and the Kandurata Maroons of Sri Lanka.
While senior team batsman Brendon McCullum agreed on Sunday that their rivals would hold an upper hand simply by virtue of the fact that they were better-equipped to make the most of conditions here, it must be said that the Kiwis are already on something of a roll.
Coming into this set of matches that will send two teams into the main draw of the CLT20, they have been in impressive form — including chalking up a mammoth 230-plus score in a practice game against a Mohali XI two days ago and an unbeaten record on a warm-up tour of Sri Lanka ahead of landing here in India.
“In Sri Lanka we played on some spin-friendly wickets and our batsmen seemed to stand up to the challenge reasonably well. I know it’s challenging for the western teams to play spin bowling, but we believe we have ticked off the preparation well and time will tell if we were spot on or not,” McCullum pointed out.
In the tournament opener, they will be up against Misbah-ul Haq’s Wolves, who too are something of a surprise package. Not the best regarded T20 team in Pakistan, they beat off strong opposition in the form of 2012 CLT20 hopefuls Sialkot Stallions and Lahore in earning the right to be here — which in itself makes them dangerous opponents, given that nation’s penchant for throwing up surprise cricket packages.
The day’s second game — between the Sunrisers and the Maroons — is an equally tough call though on paper, the Hyderabad side appear to hold an edge. For one, they recovered superbly from the dumps of 2012 to finish in the top four of IPL 2013 all in the space of a single season, and with much the same set of players who had represented the Deccan Chargers.
Then there is the presence of South African spearhead Dale Steyn and the gangling Ishant Sharma with backup from Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera or Cameron White which means they have probably the best new ball attack here to operate alongside a powerful batting line-up headed by skipper Shikhar Dhawan and J.P. Duminy.
In opposition, the Maroons too have their go-to men, especially Kumar Sangakkara, who was arm-twisted into opting out of the Sunrisers’s line-up, the experienced Nuwan Kulasekara and spinners Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath, all experienced campaigners to strengthen captain Lahiru Thirimanne’s hand.
As much as the players, the conditions are expected to have a say in proceedings too. This is in effect pre-season time in India, and all four teams here will have to contend with fresh pitches and autumnal weather, which means hot days followed by suddenly cool evenings.
Also, pitches at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here tend to be more sporting than several others around the country, which will give teams with balanced bowling line-ups an advantage, as opposed to the more spin-friendly surfaces that are likely to prevail in some of the other centres for this quick-fire format tournament.