Bailey banking on some good luck against Super Kings

Sudhir Gupta 09:04 02/10/2014
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  • All smiles: George Bailey (l).

    Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey is hoping his team’s consistent run and some good fortune will get them past Chennai Super Kings in the Champions League Twenty20 semi-final in Hyderabad tonight.

    While Chennai have struggled, recording just two victories in their four group matches and were the last to enter semis, Punjab bulldozed their way into the knockouts with an all-win record.

    Punjab have shown the same enterprise that enthralled cricket fans during the 2014 Indian Premier League where they lost to Kolkata in the finals. In their maiden CLT20 appearance, they have notched four victories with opener Manan Vohra (133 runs), all-rounders David Miller (102 runs) and Akshar Patel (six wickets) churning in consistent displays.

    Bailey believes the key to succeed will be to play to the best of their abilities.

    He said: “I think we take four wins from four. That’s a good start. As far as the tournament goes, once you are in the knock-out stage, you need to play your best and you need a little bit of luck.

    “We have to play as well as we can. It is a big game, but it is a knockout game. I think the pressure you put on yourself is just from within. It is just another game in terms of preparation and the way we want to execute our skills."

    The batting firepower of both sides is likely to steal the show, but their bowling and fielding have been very good too.

    “I don’t think it’s batting versus batting,” insists Bailey.

    “If anything, the bowling is going to be more important with both batting sides so strong. Yes, they have a strong fielding side, but ours is strong too.”

    Yesterday, Punjab had the advantage of getting a feel of the conditions at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium with a long practice session, but Chennai, who weren’t sure if they would be in the semi-finals until the closing stages of the Lahore Lions v Perth Scorchers match on Tuesday, arrived in Hyderabad late and only had an optional practice session that a few of the players attended.

    But featuring in a semi-final is not new for the MS Dhoni-led side as they have finished among the top four teams in each of the seven IPL seasons, and competed in the 2010 and 2013 CLT20 semi-finals too.

    Punjab might be keen to send Glenn Maxwell as No3, keeping in mind his impressive run against Chennai in the IPL where he scored 198 runs in three matches against them taking a heavy toll on their best spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

    Bailey, however, down played the rivalry.

    “That’s one of a number of match-ups that’s always been exciting when these two teams meet. But there’ll be plenty of exciting battles and not just about those two, that’s for sure,” he said.

    Before the tournament Punjab were dealt a big blow when pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson was sidelined with a rib injury. But that opened the doors for Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera and pacer Anureet Singh, who have stepped up admirably.

    Bailey is delighted at how Anureet has shaped up.

    He said: “It’s (absence of Johnson) changed our structure a bit, and given a chance to Thisara Perera and Anureet Singh to come in. Not that we were short of depth earlier, but with Perera, there is more depth.

    “One of the big challenges coming out of the IPL for us was the death bowling, and that was the challenge laid out to our bowlers at the start of this tournament, and I’m really proud of how Anureet has grabbed that, run with it, and made it his own.”

    Chennai are past masters of rising to the big occasion and they have an array of big match players in their ranks with captain Dhoni leading the way.

    Openers Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina and all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo are all proven match-winners.

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