Scorchers, Otago eye winning start

Their respective openers washed out due to heavy rain, Australia’s Perth Scorchers and in-form qualifiers from New Zealand Otago Volts would look to open their campaign on a winning note when the two sides clash in a Champions League Twenty20 match, here on Wednesday.

Rain had the final say as both the matches involving the two teams were called off after huge puddles on the outfield turned the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad into almost a lake.

The abandonment meant the two teams got two points each from their respective matches. It would be hard to tell whether both teams were happy with the split points.
Otago made their Champions League debut on the back of some impressive performances during the qualification stage of the tournament.

Led admirably by Brendon McCullum, they have shown to be deserving candidates for promotion with an emphatic eight-wicket win over Faisalabad Wolves, an equally convincing six-wicket victory over Kandurata Maroons and a dominating five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to confirm their participation in the Champions League.

The Scorchers, who had a forgettable inaugural season last year registering just one victory apart from being besieged by off-field problems, would be looking to put their best foot forward against the New Zealand side whose confidence would be sky high coming into the league stage.

Scorchers will be banking on captain and veteran Simon Katich and limited overs specialist Adam Voges in the batting department.