Cape Cobras will open their Pool B CLT20 campaign on Friday against Northern Knights who came through the qualifying competition to take their place in the main draw.
The South African side have suffered a major blow ahead of the fixture at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur, with the news that they will be without the services of their leading batsman, and South African international, JP Duminy.
The player will miss the whole of the Champions League T20 as the result of a knee injury that he sustained during the course of the recent tri-series in Zimbabwe. The Cobras management have yet to confirm Duminy’s replacement, though the likely choice appears to be the 26 year old Sybrand Engelbrecht.
However, there is a hold up as the CLT20 technical committee has not yet provided their approval for a replacement, as they haven’t yet received documents confirming Duminy’s injury.
Cobras will be making their third appearance at the CLT20, their best performance coming in 2009 when they made it through to the semi-finals. Duminy who leads the Cobras all time T20 run makers, with 981 runs in his 40 matches, and played in both of the Cobras previous appearances at the tournament.
Such are his abilities, that he is constant demand by T20 franchises, and apart from representing the Cobras at the CLT20, he played for the Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2010 and 2013 respectively.
The Knights have been in outstanding form through the qualifying competition, winning all three fixtures, and topping the group.
The Kiwis final game saw them eliminate the holders, the Mumbai Indians, when a solid all round performance gave them a six-wicket victory against a Mumbai side who produced a substandard batting performance in what was for them, a must win fixture.
A good looking outside bet, the Knights might just find the fixture schedule working against them, having already played three high pressure matches in the space of four days. However, if they can keep their fast bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee fit, they may yet find themselves contesting the business end of the tournament.