The Kandurata Maroons defeated the Basnahira Greens in the final of the Sri Lanka Cricket Super 4s Twenty20 tournament, the qualifying event in Sri Lanka to seal a berth in the CLT20 2013 Qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the Sunrisers Hyderabad finished among the top four teams in the league phase IPL 2013, but a loss against the Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator has meant they have to compete in the Qualifiers to progress to the main draw of the tournament. Both teams will be making their maiden appearance in the CLT20.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s impressive showing in the IPL 2013 was primarily because of the prowess of their bowling attack. If Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma made life difficult for opposition batsmen at the top of the innings, spin twins, Amit Mishra and Karan Sharma, spun a web around the batsmen in the middle overs.
Since his breathtaking Test debut, Shikhar Dhawan has been on a different plane; the southpaw has carried the confidence of doing well in Test cricket into other formats of the game too. In a team that does not have too many match-winners with the bat, Dhawan, together with Cameron White, will be expected to score big runs consistently. Thisara Perera has shown that he is capable of destroying bowling attacks in little time, but given that he generally bats lower down the order, he seldom gets the opportunity to inflict damage on opponents. With a lot riding on these matches, it remains to be seen if the Sunrisers Hyderabad will promote the dashing left-hander up the order to get the most out of him.
The Kandurata Maroons have several players with experience of playing international cricket, and they will back themselves to do well in these high-pressure matches. The run-machine, Kumar Sangakkara, will be expected to drop anchor, allowing others to play their strokes freely and pile on the runs. A lot will be expected from the two left-handers at the top of the innings – Thilina Kandamby and Upul Tharanga. On the bowling front, the very deceptive Nuwan Kulasekara will be expected to strike early at the top of the innings and set the platform for mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis.
Trivia
Kumar Sangakkara, who will don the Kandurata Maroons colours in the Karbonn Smart CLT20 2013, was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2013.
Ajantha Mendis will be making his third appearance in the CLT20. He turned out for the Wayamba Elevens in the 2009 and 2010 editions of the tournament.
Teams chasing have had more success than teams batting first in Twenty20 matches played at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Of the 29 Twenty20 matches played at the venue, 18 have been won by teams chasing.
