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The Perth Scorchers will look to build on their stunning win first game but up against them will be the in-form Kolkata Knight Riders in the 10th match of the Champions League t20 2014 at Hyderabad on Wednesday and you can follow the live blog of this T20 starting 12.30am AEST.
The Big Bash League champions Scorchers haven’t had the best of time in the Champions League t20 last two seasons and for a lot of time in their opener against the Dolphins, it looked like history was repeating itself.
Chasing 165 for a win, the Scorchers required a mammoth 28 from the last two overs and 16 from the final six balls to win the game. Just four came from the first four deliveries of the final over, leaving the Scorchers to score 12 from the final two balls.
And Mitchell Marsh did it for the Scorchers. Two sixes, bang, bang, and the Scorchers had registered a nerve-wracking win over the Dolphins to gain full points.
And on another day, I would have said that by the virtue of that stunning win last game, the Scorchers will take with them a tremendous amount of confidence. If only they were not playing the Knight Riders.
Kolkata are on a 11-match winning streak. After an indifferent start to the IPL last season, the Knight Riders stitched up nine successive wins to complete their second IPL title, and have now won two in two to bring the count up to where it is now.
The Knight Riders are still way away from the record of most number of successive wins in this format of the game – which stands at 25 – but they will barely be looking at this record. Instead, their focus will be on making the semi-finals – something they will be able to if they win this one.
It’s interesting to note that those two wins haven’t come easy for the Knight Riders. In the first game, chasing Chennai’s 157, the Knight Riders had fallen to 4/21 and 5/51 before Andre Russell walked out and smothered the opposition bowling.
Then against the Lahore Lions, they looked to have sealed their chase of 152 with a 100-run opening stand but were six runs away from the win with five deliveries remaining. Suryakant Yadav hit the winning runs for his side with three balls to spare.
As one had expected, the Scorchers gave away too many runs through Yasir Arafat, their key during the Big Bash League. The pitches in India will make it difficult for him, and he might not succeed if he bowls the length that did him well in Australia.
However, Joel Paris had a good time with the ball, as did Brad Hogg and it will be interesting to see how the two, totally contrasting bowlers will go against the Knight Riders. Paris is only 21 and learning the tricks of medium pace bowling, while Hogg’s exuberance hides his age, 43, and his experience will be something that the Scorchers will lean towards.
However, the player everyone will be looking at – for different reasons – is Sunil Narine. He has had figures of 1/9 and 3/9 off four overs, which gives him an economy rate of 2.25 and an average of 4.5 in the tournament so far.
Unless the Scorchers find a way to handle him, life could get really tough for the Orange Nation.
Join me for this Champions League t20 2014 game between the Perth Scorchers and Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday here and you can follow the live score of this game from 12.30am and post your comments below.
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