NSW, T&T seek turnaround (Preview)

NSW, T&T seek turnaround

Trinidad and Tobago had a heart breaking game against Mumbai Indians losing in a last ball thriller. The West Indian side put everything to defend a paltry 98 and was all over Mumbai till tail, for the second time running, came to the rescue of the IPL team. In its defence, T&T led by pacer Ravi Rampaul and an army of spinners bowled their heart out, and, were ahead of Mumbai for the major part of the chase till number eleven Yuzvendra Chahal got the required two runs off last aided by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin’s lack of awareness and Darren Ganga’s defensive piece of captaincy. The Mumbai’s stunning victory left T&T shocked and one could see tears rolling off some players.

T&T will be locking horns against New South Wales that suffered a one sided loss against Cape Cobras. On Chennai’s spinning track, the NSW batsmen struggled to post a big score and Herschelle Gibbs led attacking batting display made sure Cobras didn’t have to sweat much to reach the target of 136. The Australian side will be worried by the fact their batters struggled against spinners and their spinners couldn’t impress leading to the seven-wicket loss.

For Ganga and Co. it will be difficult to weed out the loss against Mumbai from their system. They overcame a bating failure to give themselves a chance of winning the game but failed last ball. Despite the loss, there were some positives for Ganga’s side- the most prominent being the players’ fighting qualities that nearly saw them pull off an improbable win.

It would be refreshing for T&T fans and all of West Indies as well how superbly Rampaul bowled on a batting friendly surface. He combined pace with accuracy and well thought out changes in line and length to rattle Mumbai top order cheaply. Spin department-Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree-were brilliant and tied down batsmen and made target of 99 to look a big one. Narine’s carom ball wasn’t picked by batsmen and he looked taking wicket ever ball.

Only concern in the department is the fact that the fifth bowler has gone for plenty which has dented T&T big time. T&T will have to find a solution to the problem to add more teeth to their setup.

And, the way T&T batted against Mumbai is bound to give headache to any team management. Their love for glory shots proved to be their downfall. Irrespective of the bowler, line and length of the ball and situation, batsmen had only sixes in mind but lacked application and proper execution ending up in a batting failure. The rot was started with a shabby and lazy piece of running from Lendl Simmons who preferred not to slide his bat only to find himself out of crease.

For T&T to get back to the winning ways, their batsmen need to believe that the slam bang format isn’t all about hitting sixes and fours. A proper application to pace the innings is the need of the hour to back their bowlers. If batters perform well, T&T will pose difficulties for their opponents for their bowling attack is suited for slow and turning Indian pitches.

In contrary NSW’s biggest challenge will be T&T’s bowling attacked heavily loaded with slow bowlers. Having names like Shane Watson, Simon Katich, David Warner at the top and hard-hitters in the middle order, the NSW can well be dubbed as one of the best lineup in the tournament on the paper. To translate their reputation into runs, batsmen will have to find way to dominate T&T spinners. The encounter can well see an intense battle between T&T spinners and the NSW batsmen. Whichever team wins that battle can well end up having a tight grasp on the match.

The NSW side too boasts of three spinners: all of whom are hoping to make a return into the national team. The trio gives variations to the attack. Nathan Hauritz is a conventional off-spinner, Steve Smith a leggie and Stephen O’Keefe gives a slow left arm option. In Brett Lee and Doug Bollinger’s absence, who opted to play for their respective IPL sides, there are a couple of fast bowlers Micheal Starc and Patrick Cummins all egged to impress at the big stage.

Both teams have one thing in mind: getting off the mark in the tournament. For that to happen they need to rectify grey areas and cut down on basic errors. On spin assisting Chennai turf, T&T should enter the crucial contest with a slight advantage. Under Katich, NSW know thing or two how turn things their favour, though.

New South Wales: Stuart Clark, Patrick Cummins, Nathan Hauritz, Josh Hazelwood, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich, Nic Maddinson, Stephen O'Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson

Trinidad and Tobago: Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Daren Ganga (C), Sherwin Ganga, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Mohammed, Dave Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Denesh Ramdin, Ravindranath Rampaul, Lendl Simmons.