Convincing victories signalled the advance of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Otago Volts into the main draw of the Champions League T20 2013, and with final placings irrelevant as per tournament rules, both teams will be more focused on their preparations for tougher matches ahead as they meet in the final qualifier at the PCA Stadium here on Friday.
In the afternoon game, the eliminated Faislabad Wolves of Pakistan and Kandurata Maroons (Sri Lanka) will be playing for pride ahead of their respective flights home on Saturday.
Coaches Tom Moody of the Sunrisers and Otago’s Vaughn Johnson are already looking ahead. Both know that with the first objective achieved, it will be important for their teams to keep the momentum going after relatively lighter opposition here but agreed that things had well gone so far.
The Volts have ridden strong bowling performances from their four-man seam attack of Ian Butler, James Neesham, James McMillan and Neil Wagner who have shared 13 wickets so far. Butler has led the way with five scalps, the Kiwis relishing the firm tracks at this venue.
Counter-balancing this is the batsmanship of the Sunrisers, led from the front by the run-hungry Shikhar Dhawan who has knocked in scores of 71 and 59. He has also struck up fruitful partnerships (121 and 68) with Parthiv Patel at the top of the order and the two will once again be a key factor in any Hyderabad push for victory on Friday.
On paper, Hyderabad too have an enviable pace attack led by Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma. While the South African tearaway has not really found his range yet, the signs are positive for the team management, while Sharma has quickly settled down to the job, using variations of pace and length effectively on very good batting surfaces.
As a bonus, the Sunrisers have attacking leg-spinners Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma in their arsenal, and the variety on offer has had Moody smiling.
The arrival of Ryan ten Doeschate has immensely boosted the Volts’ batting, and he made an immediate impression with a belligerent 83 and two wickets first up against the Sri Lankans here on Wednesday.
Up the order, Brendon McCullum has looked in good touch though openers Neil Broom and Hamish Rutherford have not provided the best of starts.