Trinidad take on fired-up Titans

With the race for the lone available semifinal spot from Group B intensifying, Trinidad and Tobago will face a fired up opponent in Titans in their Champions League Twenty20 match here on Monday.

Titans are placed second on the points table with two wins from three matches (eight points) while T&T are stuck in mid-table traffic after suffering an unlikely defeat at the hands of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Another win for Titans will ensure their safe passage to the semifinals with a game to play against Chennai Super Kings in Delhi on October 2. A T&T victory, on the other hand, will open up the group. In their previous game against Sunrisers, Titans skipper Henry Davids and Jacques Rudolph put on a century stand to lead their side to a crushing eight-wicket win in Ranchi.

The South African side romped over Sunrisers’ total of 145 in just 16.3 overs with two wickets down to give a major boost to their run rate.

T&T will have to recover quickly from their defeat against Sunrisers if they are to fancy their chances of qualifying for the semifinals, provided they win their next two games by a good margin. They can take heart from their comfortable 25-run victory against Brisbane Heat in their first game. For T&T, their bowling is their strength, led by pacer Ravi Rampaul and mystery spinner Sunil Narine, who have shared 10 wickets between them.

Rampaul was terrific with his four-wicket haul in the game against Brisbane Heat while Narine was at his best with his four-for against Sunrisers albeit in a losing cause.

Their batting mainly revolved around Darren Bravo’s 44-ball 66 against Sunrisers in Mohali but rest of the batsmen failed to support him. The team would be hoping significant contributions from skipper Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo and Sherwin Ganga in the upcoming match.