TNPL: Confident Chepauk Super Gillies take on Trichy Warriors

CHENNAI: Chepauk Super Gillies coach Hemang Badani is confident of a good show when they take on Ruby Trichy Warriors in the Sankar Cement-TNPL at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.

Chepauk will be without captain Vijay Shankar, who is in England playing for India A, but Badani believes his team is not short on talent and insists that the boys have potential to deliver.

“Our title triumph last year is behind us. It is something that we are proud of, but this is a fresh season, a new team, a new start and we are keen to do well,'' said Badani.

Underplaying the pressure factor of being the defending champions, the former India player said his team was aware that Vijay would not be available for the first few games and prepared accordingly. 

"We knew that Vijay wouldn’t be around due to his India A commitments. We have prepared well. Although the team is new, we are happy. We have some experienced all-rounder in our ranks. KH Gopinath is there, we have M Ashwin and there is also S Harish Kumar. So we have the guys who can perform and we wish to take one game at a time and progress in the tournament,'' said the coach.

Ruby Trichy Warriors' S Suresh Kumar, whose heroics helped his team win a thriller against Dindigul Dragons on Wednesday, is keen to carry the momentum into the match at Chepauk. 

"Definitely we look forward to carrying the momentum into the match on Saturday. We have more or less got the team combination right. I think we need a little more experience in our batting, but we should manage. We are aware that Chepauk will go all out against us but we are prepared for it,'' said Suresh.

"They will be without Vijay but we will not take them lightly. We all know that T20 is a different ball game as anyone can make an impact on the given day,'' added the Madras Cricket Club captain.