Bangalore start CL campaign against Warriors (Preview)

After three days of enthralling and nail biting stuff in the qualifying stage, Champions League’s main stage gets underway with Bangalore locking with South African side Warriors. A brief look at the squads either side gives a fair idea of ammunition and arsenal both teams boast of. That should make it a cracking battle between the two sides that can well be dubbed as favourites to lift the trophy.

Daniel Vettori led Bangalore side is fully loaded with match winner in the batting department who can win matches on their own. The likes of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli’ sight at the crease can give any opposition skipper hard time. It would Gayle who will be under spotlight for he hasn’t played a competitive game since his heroics with the bat in the IPL earlier their year. The winner of purple cap for amassing highest number of runs in the season with a strike rate of over 150 and proved to be real force behind Bangalore’s surge in the tournament. The team owners and management would hope for a repeat and also want Dilshan, Kohli and de Villiers to contribute runs.

In bowling, the team has world’s best left arm spinner in skipper Vettori himself and he alongwith twenty-20 specialist Dirk Nannes will shoulder the responsibility of getting opposition batters out and keep them under check. If anything, there is lack of experience in back up bowlers that might cost team some runs in the middle overs. Should team be able find a solution to the problem, they will be hard to beat and staring the tournament with a win is a likely result.

Having said that, their opponents are no mean a side having a bunch of top quality cricketers in the ranks who are very much able change the course of game on its head. If Bangalore have muscle and class in batting, Warriors can easily claim they have a better all-round bowling unit. Having the likes of Wayne Parnell, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and old horse Makhaya Ntini in the lineup, a cracking battle awaits fans between the Warriors’ fast men and Bangalore’ batting lineup. Then, their skipper and off spinner Johan Botha’s fastish off-breaks are made for this format.

The batting unit is short of big names though. It will be Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje and Colin Ingram who will have to do the bulk of scoring to give their bowlers runs to bowl at. Boucher would desperately want this tournament count by scoring runs and to force his way back into the national side. And same should be the aim young Ingram who has lost his way after getting his international career off to a rollicking start.

As of now, the lineups on the paper suggest Bangalore pose a tough challenge to Warriors but later would feel the exciting nature of the format doesn’t always bring results in stronger team’s favour. 

Bangalore Squad: Daniel Vettori (c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers (wk), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Kaif, Saurabh Tiwary, Sreenath Aravind, J Syed Mohammad, Arun Karthik, Asad Pathan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Dirk Nannes, Raju Bhatkal.

Warriors Squad: Johan Botha (c), Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher (wk), Andrew Birch, Colin Ingram, Justin Kreusch, Lyall Meyer, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Ashwell Prince, Jon-Jon Smuts, Kelly Smuts, Rusty Theron, Craig Thyssen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.