Ahmedabad: The Lions from South Africa will look to go one up from their runners-up finish during last edition of Champions League T20 when they take on the Perth Scorchers in their opening group league game here tomorrow.
Lions will be banking on captain Alviro Petersen, veteran Neil McKenzie, leggie Imran Tahir and left-arm seam duo of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Pakistani speedster Sohail Tanvir to take them through to the semis.
Petersen will be partnered by Gulam Bodi who has had the experience of spending time in the dug-out of IPL team Delhi Daredevils. The duo will be followed by limited overs specialist Quinton de Kock and experienced McKenzie.
However, they will be missing the services of speedster Chris Morris, who will donning Chennai Super Kings' jersey for this tournament.
This will be the first time that both Scorchers and Lions will be up against each other in the short history of Champions League T20.
The Lions, in last year's campaign, had beaten Mumbai Indians, CSK and Delhi Daredevils on their road to final while in the 2010-11 tournament, they had beaten Mumbai Indians and Guyana but failed to progress ahead.
Perth Scorchers had a forgettable inaugural season last year, registering just one victory, apart from being besieged by off-field problems.
They will be banking on captain and veteran Simon Katich and limited overs specialist Adam Voges in the batting department.
