The Barbados Tridents will be looking desperately for the victory that will keep their hopes of a semi-final place in the CLT20, when they face Cape Cobras at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh on Friday.
The Tridents who finished the Caribbean Premier League in such fine style to clinch their own domestic title, were weakened coming into the Champions League as the result of a number of their key star players opting to play for their IPL franchises, and yet they still managed to push the Kings XI Punjab all the way to the wire, in their opening Group B fixture.
The Cobras from South Africa have lost both their opening two contests, and are effectively eliminated from the tournament already. Although their performances in the final two fixtures could have a bearing on who qualifies from the group.
Dilshan Munaweera and Raymon Reifer struck impressive half centuries against Kings XI to help the Tridents set what seemed a daunting target, especially given that the Tridents strength coming into the tournament lay with their bowling, given the loss of Shoaib Malik, Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard coming into the 2014 CLT20.
However, that idea was soon proved incorrect, as the attack carried little threat against Kings XI, with only the leg spinner Jeevan Mendis seriously challenging the batsmen.
He produced alarming turn on occasion and with the ball also keeping low, he conceded just 18 runs and took two wickets.
Cobras opened their tournament with an insipid defeat to the Northern Knights in a weather affected match, where the rain probably saved them from a severe reverse.
In a must win game against the Hobart Hurricanes, they seemed to have the match in the bag, when Aiden Blizzard was caught at long on, in the 18th over.
But Vernon Philander was ruled to have over stepped, Blizzard smashed the free hit for six, and the whole course of the match changed in an instant. Philander lost all control, while Blizzard crashed him to all corners, and the Cobras hopes of making the semi-finals were dealt a terminal blow.