MOHALI, India, CMC- Skipper Rayad Emrit says Barbados Tridents are “pumped and ready” ahead of their clash with Cape Cobras in the Champions League here today.
Tridents are among teams in a nail-biting race to join Kolkata Knight Riders in the semi-final round of the tournament.
The Caribbean team suffered a setback when they lost a close encounter in their opening match against Kings XI Punjab last week.
“We’ve been here for a while now so it’s like ‘home’ for us. We had a while since our last game last Saturday so we are relaxed and ready for this big game against Cape Cobras.
The team is pumped up and ready for this,” said Emrit.
“We are looking for two wins in these two ‘home’ matches and then move on to Bangalore with two wins. We are here to compete with the best and we are here to beat the best. We believe we can win (the tournament). We have a confident and upbeat dressing room.”
Cobras are without a point after two matches, suffering a 33-run defeat in their rain-curtailed opening game before the Hobart Hurricanes outclassed them in a high-scoring match.
The Caribbean outfit and their South African opponents will be in search of their first points, knowing teams need at least two wins to compete for a semi-final spot.
“We played our opening match against Kings XI Punjab and we took it very close. It was a game we should have won,” said Emrit who also represented T&T Red Force in the CLT20.
“We had a bad over and that cost us, but we have that belief that we can win and win the overall tournament”.
Tridents had a full training session yesterday, going through their paces under the watchful eye of Head Coach Desmond Haynes, the West Indies legend.
“Our fielding, batting in the middle overs and of course our death bowling are some of the things we have worked on extensively,” the captain explained.
“Even though it did get a bit boring at times, this break (of five days between matches) was good for us to address our issues. We have been training hard and we have had a couple of days off, so we are good to go.”
The Cobras have several world-class players in their line-up including South Africa Test captain Hashim Amla and fast bowler Vernon Philander.
“We know that they have lost a couple of games,” said Emrit.
“They are definitely on the back foot and we will be looking to pounce on that and get a win”.
