KARACHI: Mohammad Hafeez-led Lahore Lions team will be making their debut in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament when they take on Mumbai Indians at Raipur, India on Saturday.

The Lions’ batting line-up, boasting the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed, will be key in determining their fortunes.

“We all know how important the first stage is so we are focusing on qualifying for the next round. We, as a team, have been playing some exciting cricket in the last two years and the squad has gutsy players from our domestic circuit so we have an ability to fight at the top level,” Hafeez said.

Keron Pollard, in the meantime, has been named to lead Mumbai Indians after injured Rohit Sharma was ruled out.

Pollard has been with Mumbai since 2010 but has not captained the team before this tournament. He had led Barbados Tridents, winners of the Caribbean Premier League this season.

Anil Kumble, the Mumbai team mentor, welcomed the appointment. “I’m confident Kieron with his experience and impressive track re­cord, will rise to the occasion,” he said.

Mumbai’s squad also includes Harbhajan Singh, who led them to the 2012 Champions League title, and Lasith Malinga, who was Sri Lanka’s captain when they won the World T20 four months ago, but a press release sent out by the franchise said Pollard in Rohit’s absence was the “automatic choice” to lead.

Squads:

LAHORE LIONS: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Siddique, Umar Akmal, Nasir Jamshed, Salman Ali, Asif Raza, Mustafa Iqbal, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Imran Ali, Saad Naseem, Adnan Rasool, Mohammad Saeed, Ali Manzoor.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Kieron Pollard (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Pragyan Ojha, Praveen Kumar, Aditya Tare, Jalaj Saxena, Jasprit Bumrah,Shreyas Gopal, Michael Hussey, Corey Anderson, Lasith Malinga, Marchant de Lange, Lendl Simmons, Sushant Marathe.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2014