T&T; aims to qualify for main stage of CL T20
September 14th, 2011 - 4:12 pm ICT by IANSPort of Spain, Sep 14 (IANS/CMC) Trinidad and Tobago’s captain Daren Ganga expects his team to qualify for the main draw of the Champions League Twenty20, admitting that “sometimes our best efforts are not good enough”.
The team leaves Wednesday for India, where it will contest the qualifying stages of the competition against Sri Lanka’s Ruhuna Rhinos and England’s Leicestershire.
Three teams will advance from the qualifiers, and T&T;, beaten finalist in the inaugural tournament two years ago, felt strongly that they will own one of those spaces.
“As T20 cricket goes, it is very difficult for us to predict results before we play,” said Ganga on the eve of his team’s departure.
“Sometimes our best efforts are not good enough for the opposition. and that is the nature of sport.
“We try to leave everything on the field, meaning that we give our best effort on the field.
“What I could say is that we have worked very hard as a team to prepare. For the last two months, every single player in this room has dedicated their lives, and their time towards preparing for this challenge. We firmly believe that we will play good cricket,”
Ganga added.
T&T; will fly to Hyderabad - via London and Bangalore - before playing a warm-up against Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders.
They begin the qualifying competition against Ruhuna Monday and take on Leicestershire the following day.
“With just a day to go before we head off to India, the players would not have been focussed on training,” said T&T; Operations Manager Omar Khan.
“I think they are all just anxious to get to India, and get down to business. We gave them the day off (Monday) to attend to their personal business and from (Wednesday) it is serious cricket business.
He said: “We are hoping to settle quickly in India and hit the ground running. We have quality players and once they play intelligent cricket, I see no reason us not doing very well in the tournament.
T&T; are without key all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo. They have chosen to play for their respective IPL franchises, Mumbai Indians and reigning IPL champions Chennai Super Kings.
The squad:
Daren Ganga (captain), Samuel Badree, Adrian Barath, Darren Bravo, Kevon Cooper, Rayad Emrit, Sherwin Ganga, Shannon Gabriel, Jason Mohammed, Dave Mohammed, Sunil Narine, William Perkins, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Lendl Simmons
–IANS/CMC
bs/vm
- Former T&T; captain Daren Ganga dropped for domestic T20 - Dec 09, 2011
- Final squads of 11 teams for Champions League named - Aug 22, 2011
- CL T20 qualifier: T&T; to bat against Leicestershire - Sep 20, 2011
- Ruhuna to bat against T&T; in CL T20 qualifier - Sep 19, 2011
- No plot against Daren Ganga: Trinidad board - Dec 13, 2011
- Bravo-Ramdin-Rampaul-Barath return boosts T&T; - Mar 29, 2012
- 'Conspiracy to get rid of Gayle, Sarwan' - Dec 11, 2011
- We believe in our ability, says Darren Ganga - Sep 21, 2011
- T&T; beat Ruhunu by five wickets in CL T20 qualifier - Sep 19, 2011
- T&T; to bat against New South Wales - Sep 28, 2011
- Sarwan plays down interest in West Indies tour - May 04, 2012
- T&T; outclass Leicester to qualify for main CL T20 stage - Sep 20, 2011
- Spinners did trick for us: Darren Ganga - Sep 19, 2011
- West Indies eves see no surprises from Sri Lanka - Apr 24, 2012
- Trinidad and Tobago elect to bat against Somerset - Oct 12, 2009
Tags: bangalore, best effort, best efforts, champions league, cmc, cricket, daren ganga, inaugural tournament, knight riders, last two months, omar khan, operations manager, personal business, port of spain, premier league, quality players, rhinos, ruhuna, single player, trinidad and tobago