We are Champions League favourites: Tiwary

Kolkata – Crowing with delight at Kolkata Knight Riders finishing champions in the Indian Premier League (IPL), batsman Manoj Tiwary said Monday they would start favourites at the Champions League Twenty20 tournament starting October.

“Of course we are favourites in the Champions League after having won the IPL. Everyone will expect us to win the tournament,” said Tiwary.

The right-hander, who fashioned KKR’s win in the final against Chennai Super Kings Sunday with a boundary, praised the team’s new player recruits and collective spirit for the success.

“Players like Sunil Narine, Jacques Kallis and Yusuf Pathan were taken in as they had done well for other franchises. We had a very good team combination and that was crucial,” he said.

Referring to previous editions of the IPL where KKR played poor cricket, Tiwary said “somewhere down the line the chemistry was missing and things did not fall in place”.