Top 5 contenders to win Champions League T20 2014
The Champions League face-off between the worlds best T20 teams across countries is slowly picking up steam. The fanfare is conjuring some buzz and with quite a few fresh teams in the fray, it is going to be quite a tournament this year. A very important twist in the tail though is that in Australia, the table toppers and the second-toppers lost the semi-finals, which means that the teams that eventually arrived from there are not really as intimidating as their predecessors.That opens up the competition a bit more. Sadly, with Malinga opting Mumbai Indians over Southern Express and Barbados Tridents losing three key players, their challenge in the tournament seems limited. Mumbai Indians and Lahore Lions are my favourites to qualify to the group stage before the real tournament gets kick-started. These 5 teams have a good chance of taking the trophy home this year.
#5 Kolkata Knight Riders
KKR under Gautam Gambhir, on paper, have a championship team. However, they are slow starters and in tournaments like this, that could mean elimination. The IPL champions were on a great string of victories, coming from far behind to eventually clinch the championship. That was largely on the back of Gambhir and Robin Uthappa finding form, with Manish Pandey playing some critical innings.
Sunil Narine will be important yet again. KKR are likely to include Andre Russell in the playing XI, given that they will miss the services of Shakib al Hasan owing to his ban.