Guyana plotting upset of Royal Challengers
Published:Sunday | September 12, 2010 | 12:00 AM
CENTURION, South Africa (CMC): Against all odds, Guyana will open their quest for Champions League Twenty20 glory when they face star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening game at SuperSport Park today.
Already forced to walk in the shadows of Trinidad and Tobago who played unbeaten to reach the final of the inaugural tournament last year, Guyana will seek something special in order to etch their names on the cash-rich competition.
They boast a squad with precious little international experience with their captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, the most seasoned campaigner with 83 Tests and 156 one-day internationals (ODI).
However, though Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon and Narsingh Deonarine have played for West Indies, they have just 18 Tests and 49 ODIs among them.
Further, none of the four have extensive T20 experience, playing just 27 T20 internationals, all told. Neither of them ply their trade in any of the blooming T20 domestic leagues around the world.
It means that Guyana will have the odds stacked against them, but Sarwan remained upbeat yesterday over his side's chances.
"We are confident that once we play to our potential, we can go all the way and the pressure will be on the Challengers tomorrow, especially what happened to Mumbai Indians on Friday," said Sarwan referring to Mumbai's shock loss to Highveld Lions in the tournament opening on Friday.
"Our batting is our strength and we have to stay focused and field well. We are all in this together and the team spirit is great. The ball should bounce a bit more than at home but we have talked about that and we are ready."
They face a side with a world-class batting line-up led by South African Jacques Kallis, Indian Rahul Dravid and Kiwi Ross Taylor, who will be looking to cash in on the minnows from the Caribbean.
In the bowling department, Indian leg-spinning legend Anil Kumble, speedster Dale Steyn and Kallis will keep Guyana busy nd most pundits will be giving Guyana little hope of clearing this first hurdle.