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Pollard presence spices up contest

Indians run into Trinidad &Tobago in battle between teams high on confidence
Last Updated 25 September 2011, 16:19 IST
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CL 2011 has seen South Africans turning out for IPL franchises against their countrymen, Australians representing Indian clubs against their compatriots. As has already been apparent, there is bound to be inevitable, if temporary, needle even between friends playing for different teams, but in T&T’s case, there will be more than just needle.

Having come through the qualifying competition with an all-win record in Pool B, Daren Ganga’s men, runners-up in CL 2009, kick off their main draw campaign on Monday night at the Chinnaswamy stadium against Mumbai Indians and, more significantly, Kieron Pollard. The giant all-rounder had played an influential part in T&T’s surge to the final two years back but has turned his back on his country of late, not playing in the Caribbean domestic T20 competition which T&T won earlier this year.

The sight of Pollard in the opposition is certain to up the motivation levels in a team already high on talent and determination. Ganga has an enterprising, occasionally explosive, bunch at his disposal, a team handful in the ultra abridged version as was so obvious during the Hyderabad qualifiers.

Given the experience in the ranks and the lofty ambitions they entertain, it is unlikely that T&T will allow Pollard’s presence in the opposition -- or that of Dwayne Bravo’s in Chennai Super Kings when they square off on October 2 -- to cloud their thinking. They will use that as an inspiration, but their focus will be on the Mumbai Indians as a unit rather than just Pollard, the Mumbai Indian.

The Indians showed on Saturday night that while they might be without several top guns, they can still be ultra competitive. Even minus Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel, they bearded CSK in their own den, finding unlikely batting heroes in skipper Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga.

The Indians’ immediate challenge will be to front up for a second match in three nights, with a short haul from Chennai thrown in. Conditions in Bangalore will be somewhat different from Chennai; for one thing, it isn’t as humid here and for another, the playing surface at the Chinnaswamy should encourage more positivity. The Indians will be hoping their middle-order, which floundered after a promising start provided by the openers, finds its feet quickly, before the race for semifinal slots hots up.

It will be particularly essential for the likes of Pollard and Andrew Symonds, two of the most fearsome strikers of the cricket ball, to get amongst the runs at the earliest. Opener Davy Jacobs was stretchered off during training after being hit in the leg by a ball, and it was not clear how serious the injury to the opener is. Pollard’s familiarity with the T&T attack should help, but then again, familiarity is a double-edged sword!

Ganga’s side is an exciting mix that has two intrepid openers in Lendl Simmons and Adrian Barath, the supremely gifted Darren Bravo rounding off a top three as dangerous as any in the competition. Ravi Rampaul was among the most impressive bowlers in the qualifying phase, fusing parsimony and incisiveness beautifully, while the unheralded Samuel Badree is a canny leg-spinner adept at piling on the pressure with the new ball.

The one area of concern has been the fifth bowler, Sherwin Ganga and Simmons who have made up that complement going for plenty. The Indians will have taken note of that, of that there is no doubt.

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(Published 25 September 2011, 16:17 IST)

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