Hyderabad, Sept 19 : Kolkata Knight Riders, Sri Lanka's Ruhunu Eleven, Trinidad and Tobago from the Caribbean, Kiwi side Auckland Aces and England's Leicestershire and Somerset will fight it out in the Champions League T20 qualifiers beginning on Monday for three spots in the main tournament that gets underway on Friday in Bangalore.
In the first match of the qualifiers, Ruhunu Eleven will take on Trinidad and Tobago, while the second game will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Auckland Aces at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
In the run-up to the tournament, the Knights received a huge setback in the form of captain Gautam Gambhir, who has been ruled out of the qualifiers due to injury.
But with the likes of Jacques Kallis — who has been named captain in place of Gambhir — Brett Lee, Yusuf Pathan and Manoj Tiwary in the team, KKR hold an edge over the Aces.Ten teams will compete in the main draw of the multi-million dollar prize money tournament, which will conclude in Chennai on October 9.
