HYDERABAD, India, CMC – With a place in the semi-finals assured, Trinidad & Tobago are mulling over resting key players ahead of their final match of the Twenty20 Champions League today.
The surprise team of the inaugural tournament, T&T will look to maintain their unbeaten streak when they clash with South Africa’s Diamond Eagles at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Captain Daren Ganga said, however, the Caribbean side were keen on sustaining their momentum which has seen them knock off Somerset, Deccan Chargers and New South Wales.
“We are on a winning run here and we are going to try our outmost to keep that going,” the former West Indies batsman said.
“We have not decided on the final team as yet and whether we are going to give some of the reserve players a run as yet. What is important at this point in time is keeping that winning spirit as we head into the semi-finals.”
T&T carried a 15-man squad to the tournament but have fielding the same XI throughout and could be tempted to play West Indies batting prospect Adrian Barath, along with bowling all-rounder Rayad Emrit while resting hard-working all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.
If T&T win again, they will top League A and retain the right to play their semi-final match at the Rajiv Ghandi International Stadium – a facility where they have played their last two matches.
Despite missing many of their big name players, Diamond Eagles have been very impressive in this tournament and opened the second round with a solid win over English county Somerset.
Having just taken two points from the preliminary round, the South Africans will be desperate for a win against the Trinidadians. Should they win on Sunday, they will dump Somerset and New South Wales from the tournament.
TEAMS (from)T&T – Daren Ganga (captain), Samuel Badree, Navin Stewart, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Denesh Ramdin, Kieron Pollard, William Perkins, Sunil Narine, Dave Mohammed, Adrian Barath, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga.
DIAMOND EAGLES – Boata Dippenaar (Captain), Ryan Bailey, Morne van Wyk, S van Schalkwyk, Thandi Tshabalala, Rilee Rossouw, Victor Mpitsang, Ryan McLaren, Adrian McLaren, Alan Kruger, Jandre Coetzee, C de Villiers, Dillon du Preez, Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks.
