Windies' T&T Take on Lanka's Ruhunu XI in CLT20 qualifiers

Hyderabad: Trinidad & Tobago are keen to make up for their absence from the tournament last year. To play in qualifiers may not be appealing for 2009 finalists.

No matter how low West Indian cricket may sink but the presence of a team from the Caribbean always lends a dash of exuberance.

"Well, I guess we have to play in the qualifying tournament and there is nothing we can do about it. In the current situation we cannot change it. As compared to 2009, the pressure is the same. There were four groups of three and we had to win to advance. We had taken that in our stride. We had to beat all the teams, even the best ones," skipper Daren Ganga said.

Well, momentum is what all the teams are looking at as any slip up will not easy to recover from. T&T take on Sri Lanka's Ruhunu XI in their opening Group A match on Monday in what promises an exciting contest as both teams have a close resemblance in style.

Sanath Jayasuriya is the biggest name in the Ruhuna squad but has off late been found more often in the commentary box than on the field. Apart from him and Dinesh Chandimal, the rest of the squad consists of players unknown on the international stage. We may get a glimpse of Tillakaratne Dilshan's brother, allrounder TN Sampath.

Dinesh Chandimal has had a stop-start beginning to his international career: after a century during the ODI series in England, he was dropped for the final two home ODIs against Australia. The Twenty20 format may not be the best place to show he has overcome some technical deficiencies but he will be looking to impress the Sri Lankan selectors.

Teams from

Ruhuna XI ML Udawatte (capt), DNA Athulathmudali, LD Chandimal (wk), LJP Gunaratne, JGA Janoda, ST Jayasuriya, MS Kamileen, KPSP Karunanayake, AKKY Lanka, GACR Perera, PBB Rajapaksa, TN Sampath, AAS Silva, TAM Siriwardana, OLA Wijesiriwardene.

Trinidad & Tobago D Ganga (capt), S Badree, AB Barath, DM Bravo, K Cooper, RR Emrit, ST Gabriel, S Ganga, D Mohammed, JN Mohammed, SP Narine, WKD Perkins, D Ramdin (wk), R Rampaul, LMP Simmons.

Stats & trivia

• During the Caribbean T20, four of T&T's bowlers had economy-rates of less than six an over, with Badree going at just 3.90 an over in his 20 overs.

Match facts
Monday September 19, 2011
Start time 16:00 local (10:30 GMT)