The ball is in our court now: John Wright

JAIPUR: Mumbai Indian coach John Wright said the loss to Rajasthan Royals in the Champions League Twenty20 has come as a jolt to his IPL winner team, which now has a fair idea as to where it stands.

"We knew that it was going to be a hard match against Rajasthan Royals and they had beaten us convincingly in the IPL 6 encounter a couple of months back. It was a jolt and the ball is in our court now. They now have hard matches and they must do well. They know exactly where they stand," said the coach.

"Perhaps they were 20-odd runs short and they needed more wickets at the beginning. I feel our fielding and bowling was ok but they could not fix with batting. They have been doing well playing spinners but tonight it did not work. At the finish I feel a seamer might have been better," he added after the seven-wicket loss on Saturday.

When asked whether the Rajasthan Royals bowlers gave small to play with to Mumbai batsmen, the former India coach praised the home team.

The former New Zealand opener also praised Sanju Samson. "He is young and lucky that he is getting the opportunities. He made a difference by batting so well," said Wright.

"They bowl wicket to wicket. It is hard against them. They did beat us convincingly in the earlier IPL match here. They had lost few speedy wickets early on. They had recovered and I had hoped to reach 160 and," said the coach.

Mumbai up against qualifiers Otago in CLT20

Mumbai Indians were outsmarted by the enterprising Rajasthan Royals, going down by seven wickets on Saturday in Jaipur.

AHMEDABAD: Jolted by the loss to Rajasthan Royals in their opening match, IPL winners Mumbai Indians face another tricky opponent in in-form qualifiers from New Zealand Otago Volts in their second Group A game of the Champions League Twenty20 on Monday.

They not very have any time to sit back an reflect on the loss as they make the trip here to face Otago, a team that impressed immensely in the qualifiers by winning all of its matches to finish atop the standings.

En route the main draw, Otago defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad, Pakistan's Faisalabad Wolves & Sri Lankan outfit Kandurata Maroons.

The McCullum brothers -- Brendon & Nathan -- have played key roles in the team's success. While skipper & batting mainstay Brendon has shone with the bat, Nathan has turned in first rate bowling performances to help the team's cause.

In contrast, Mumbai could not have hoped for a worse start as they lost to Rajasthan despite being a star-studded outfit.

But Mumbai would need over that from the star batsman. Skipper Rohit Sharma, however, continued to show nice form, while Kieron Pollard was also impressive with a 36-ball 47 down the order.

Veteran Sachin Tendulkar, playing his last match for the Mumbai Indians, showed some spark with a 15-run cameo, which included fours.

Otago picked up comprehensive wins in the qualifiers but the heavy reliance on Brendon McCullum would be a cause of concern for the team.

However, against Otago, a side that has mostly stifled opposition batting, it would take much over cameos in the middle.

The side would look for more notable contributions from opener Neil Broom Hamish Tutherford, who have been first rate nevertheless so far.

Teams (from):

Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Abu Nechim, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rishi Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Dinesh Karthik, Glenn Maxwell, Pragyan Ojha, Akshar Patel, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Smith, Aditya Tare.

Otago Volts: Brendon McCullum (Capt.), Nicholas Beard, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Mark Craig, Derek de Boorder, Jacob Duffy, James McMillan, James Neesham, Aaron Redmond, Hamish Rutherford, Ryan0 Doeschate, Neil Wagner.

BH vs TT: Trinidad & Tobago stumble after good start

NEW DELHI: Trinidad & Tobago stumbled after a respectable start as they lost wickets inside 40 runs against Brisbane Heat in the Champions League clash in Ranchi on Sunday.

Scorecard

Kemar Roach then scalped Darren Bravo without allowing him to get off the mark with the scorecard reading 37. After addition of run on board, McDermott struck again & desmissed Evin Lewis to reduce T&T to 38/3.

Alister McDermott gave Tobago first blow by bowling out Lendl Simmons after a 28-run stand for the first wicket. Simmons scored 14 off seven balls with the help of boundaries before getting out.

Brisbane Heat won the toss & chosen to bowl at the JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

"The pitch has been covered for a few days so they would like to bowl first. The absence of giant players affects us a bit, but they have the fellows who can do the job. It is a great experience to play over here as well as a quantity of our players will play here for the first time," said Brisbane captain James Hopes.

Both teams have lost players each. Heat are without Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals), Mitchell Johnson (Mumbai Indians) & Thisara Perera (Sunrisers Hyderabad), while T&T have lost Kieron Pollard (Mumbai), Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Tremendous Kings) & Kevon Cooper (Royals).

"145-155 looks a nice total & they have the bowlers to back it up. They hope to do well, plenty of our players have played this format. Nicolas Pooran & Evin Lewis are fascinating players to watch from our side," said T&T skipper Denesh Ramdin.

T&T: L Simmons, E Lewis, DM Bravo, J Mohammed, D Ramdin, N Pooran, S Ganga, S Narine, R Emrit, R Rampaul, S Badree

Brisbane Heat: J Hopes, J Burns, P Forrest, D Christian, C Lynn, C Hartley, B Cutting, CJM Sabburg, N Hauritz, K Roach, A McDermott