Titans eye semis berth at Motera

In complete contrast to Jaipur and Ranchi where Rahul Dravid’s elegance and M.S. Dhoni’s fireworks have kept the cricket-crazy fans entertained, Ahmedabad — also a venue for the CLT20’a league stage — has been oblivious to the cricketing jamboree. After a double washout last week and a home game of Mumbai Indians being moved to Jaipur, the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium here will host two Group B matches on Monday with the hope that rain does not play spoilsport again. Praying for the same would be the Titans, who will go through to the semi-finals with a win in the first game against Trinidad and Tobago. Chennai Super Kings’ unbeaten run in the league stage has left three teams jostling for the second spot and both T&T and Sunrisers Hyderabad — who meet out-of-contention Brisbane Heat in the late match — face must-win situations. Barring their loss against CSK, Titans have put up an all-round show, be it defending 123 against the Heat or scoring heavily and registering an eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. They are in prime form, have momentum and are likely to advance to the knockouts. However, it will be folly to write-off T&T, the Titans’ Caribbean opponents, who have four points courtesy a win and a loss. They arrived here on Tuesday and know the tricky weather and ground conditions better than any other team. The presence of Ravi Rampaul, mystery-spinner Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree makes them a strong bowling unit. The batting will revolve around Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons and skipper Denesh Ramdin. Egging them on from the dugout would be the Sunrisers, who have an uphill task after their net-run rate slipped to -0.622 following the loss to Titans. Amit Mishra has been the biggest disappointment having claimed just one wicket in the league stage. The seasoned leg-spinner was the leading wicket-taker for Hyderabad with 21 scalps in seven games in IPL-6. Mishra, who had a productive Zimbabwe tour, will be keen to make his mark against Brisbane, who are down on confidence having lost all their three matches. After continuous showers last week, there was bright sunshine on Sunday. The outfield still had some damp patches near the boundary but with no heavy showers expected, chances of matches actually being played here are fairly bright.