2013 Champions League T20: Team Preview - Kandurata Maroons

The second edition of the Sri Lankan Premier League was called off after all eight franchises failed to pay the tournament fee and the bank guarantees for player payments.

In place of SLPL, Sri Lanka’s makeshift Twenty20 tournament was confirmed only two days before it began and was followed by the board’s public spat with Kumar Sangakkara, but the Sri Lankan Cricket Board believes they now send the strongest ever side to represent the country at the Champions League.

The Kandurata Maroons are making their debut in Champions League T20 as they qualified for the tournament beating Basnahira Greens in the finals of Super 4’s T20 finals, courtesy a fine bowling display from Nuwan Kulasekara. Here is the overall preview of the brand new Sri Lankan side Maroons ahead of the 2013 CLT20.

Squad:

Captain: Lahiru Thirimanne.

Coach: Chaminda Vaas.

Batsmen: Lahiru Thirimanne, Upul Tharanga, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Silva, Dhananjaya De Silva.

All Rounders: Milinda Siriwardana, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Shehan Jayasuriya.

Bowlers: Dilhara Lokuhettige, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv, Lahiru Jayaratne.

Wicket Keeper: Kumar Sangakkara.

Strengths:

Right mix of youth and experience.
Maroons are a very balanced team
Presence of some good international players in their lineup.
Presence of quality spinners.
Nuwan Kulasekara will be deadly with the new ball.

Weakness:

Players have played only 4 matches together.
Chasing huge totals will be a difficult task for Maroons.
Fielding is a worry for them.

X-Factor:

Ajantha Mendis – the bowler who started creating doubts in minds of the batsmen by mixing up his leg spinners along with some sharp off spinners and classical top spinners. In addition to these, he was the one who brought forward the mystery delivery – carrom ball. Initially, he troubled the batsmen around the world with his variations that earned him the name “Mystery Spinner”.

The Indian batsmen, in particular, had some bad nightmares about Mendis. In a matter of six months, his mystery was solved by the Indian batsmen as Mendis became ineffective. Every batsman started picking his deliveries and he went for runs in Tests and ODIs. But in T20s, he maintained his old standards.

The batsmen had difficulties in scoring runs freely against him. He remained the nucleus of the Sri Lankan bowling line up in the shortest version of the game. With the conditions in India known to assist spinners, Mendis will look to exploit the conditions as he is looking to cement his place in the national side. The Maroons will be relying on Mendis’ mystery to wonders for them.

Players to watch out for:

Nuwan Kulasekara - Even though T20 is considered as a batsman’s game, there are equal chances for the bowlers to succeed. The new ball bowlers are expected to extract maximum swing before the ball gets older. Kandurata Maroons’ medium pacer Nuwan Kulasekara will look to make use of the favourable conditions.

Kulasekara has the ability to swing the ball both ways and he has a deadly in-swinger against the right handers that traps them in front of the stumps too often. With his genuine swing, he will pose a major threat to the opening batsmen. He has been used to the conditions in India and that could be a vital factor for the Maroons. The strong bowling lineup of the maroons is spearheaded by Kulasekara. Apart from his bowling, he is also a hard hitting batsman who is capable of scoring some quick runs in the end. He is expected to play a vital role in Maroons chances of having a decent tournament.

Kumar Sangakkara – He is easily the greatest batsman from Sri Lanka to have played the game. After making his international debut in 2000, he made the number 3 spot his own in a short span of time. He also holds the responsibility of binding the Maroons innings together.

He has to hold one end up and steady the Maroons’ innings in case of an early collapse in their batting order. He is a consistent batsman who has tons of international runs under his belt. He is capable of rotating the strike and can shift gears whenever needed. He has lots of experience playing in Indian conditions. He has dumped his IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad to represent for Maroons in the CLT20, and is the nucleus of Maroons. He will look to carry his team forward in the tournament.

Possible Playing XI: Upul Tharanga, Thilina Kandamby, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Shehan Jayasuriya, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Ajantha Mendis, Suraj Randiv.

Kandurata Maroons Schedule:

Tuesday, 22nd September v Sunrisers in Mohali

Wednesday, 24th September v Otago in Mohali

Friday, 28th September v Wolves in Mohali

Can the temporarily formed team Kandurata Maroons go all the way to win their second major trophy?