BANGALORE, India, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago skipper Daren Ganga will lead his eager Caribbean side into their first Champions League Twenty20 assignment today against English county Somerset at the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium.
The T&T players were buoyant during yesterday’s training session at the match venue and team captain Ganga talked tough ahead of their campaign at the US$6 million tournament.
Somerset sent shock waves through the southern part of India when they stunned reigning Indian Premier League (IPL) Champions and Group A favourites Deccan Chargers by one wicket in a last-ball victory on Saturday.
But Ganga is unperturbed by that result and insists there is no change to his team’s plans to face Somerset.
“When we set off to India, we were always targeting two wins in the preliminary rounds. Although Somerset was not boasting the stars like the Chargers, we know that they are a champion team from England and that our work would be cut out for us,” Ganga said.
“We need to win both games, as we look ahead and we are confident that we can pull it off starting Monday.”
Ganga believes that his team’s depth in batting will be the key to the outcome.
“We bat all the way down and this is very important in this form of the game.”
“Also we have some very experienced players and guys like Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul and myself will be looking to lead the way.”
Meanwhile, manager of the T&T team Colin Borde said his guys are ready for a battle they have been planning for months ago.
“Preparation for this tournament started months ago in Trinidad and tomorrow when we take the field, we are hopeful to reap our rewards.
“I keep telling people that this is the biggest tournament T&T would ever play in and doing well here is crucial for the further development of the game back home. The team has settled well in India, we have been treated royally by a very professional IPL unit and I must say that at this point I cannot complain much, I just hope the guys can go out there and deliver.”
TEAMS (from):
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO – Daren Ganga (captain), Samuel Badree, Navin Stewart, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard, William Perkins, Sunil Narine, Dave Mohammed, Adrian Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga.
SOMERSET – Justin Langer (captain) Omari Banks, Charl Willoughby, Max Waller, ME Trescothick, Peter Trego, Alfonso Thomas, Arul Suppiah, Ben Phillips, PS Jones, Jos Buttler, Wes Durston, James Hildreth, Craig Kieswetter.
