MOHALI, India, CMC – Captain Rayad Emrit believes Barbados Tridents can hold their own alongside some of the bigger franchises in the Champions League Twenty20, and says they have no plans on being intimidated.
The Tridents open their campaign on Saturday in the champions-of-champions T20 tournament here when they face Indian Premier League side Kings XI Punjab at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
They will also clash with Cape Cobras, Hobart Hurricanes and Northern Knights in a competitive Group B but Emrit said Tridents were backing themselves to compete strongly.
“We are not intimidated. We are a good unit. We didn’t win the CPL by luck. We played good cricket throughout and if we can continue that momentum in the Champions League, I think we are going to have a good chance of reaching very far,” Emrit said.
“It’s just now for the international guys to come and blend in as quickly as possible. I think we are a good unit and I think we have everything that it takes to compete in that tournament.”
Emrit leads a side that will be missing the likes of captain Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik and Dwayne Smith all of whom are participating in the tournament for other franchises.
They have been replaced Zimbabwean Elton Chigumbura, Sri Lankan Dilshan Munaweera and New Zealander James Franklin.
However, most of the team are untested in Indian conditions but Emrit, who has already represented his native Trinidad and Tobago in the CLT20, said he had already spoken to his players about adjustment that needed to be made.
“The atmosphere is going to be different. There is going to be large crowds and a lot of crowd pressure but I keep reminding the team it is just another cricket game. Yes, the crowd is going to be big but it’s just another cricket game,” the all-rounder pointed out.
Luckily for the Tridents, they will play their first three games in Mohali, the stadium in north-western India which is known to support faster bowlers.
And with several seamers included in the Tridents line-up, Emrit is hoping they can exploit the conditions.
However, he believes overall the Tridents will need to adjust quickly to Indian conditions.
“When the Trinidad team used to go to India [for the CLT20], we used to go down to Guyana and play some practice games because the conditions in Guyana were more like India so I keep telling the team the conditions in India are like playing in Guyana,” Emrit said.
“The pitches are similar to those in Guyana. But in Mohali where we play our first three matches, it’s a bit different as the ball comes onto the bat a bit like Barbados and St Lucia.
“So I think it will be a bit like home in Mohali. Hopefully it is the same as last year when the ball was coming onto the bat.”
