Even in a team sport, some men are more equal than others, more capable of turning it on, on a more consistent basis, than the rest of their mates. These are proven match-winners, those that could easily be the difference between victory and defeat. Wisden India reflects on the stars to look out for, one from each of the eight teams participating in the Champions Trop...
The Sri Lankan team is placed with Australia, hosts England and New Zealand in Group A and will look at consolidated efforts from its top players to answer tough questions.
If anyone wanted to reassurance that Test cricket is alive and kicking, the first two day were examples of that. On the first day, the official attendance during tea-time was 29,435 in a stadium with 34,000 capacity.
Raina might still be the nearly man when it comes to Test cricket, but in the limited-overs game, he is in a league of his own. He has often lived under the towering shadows of the top-order batsmen, quietly doing his job at No. 5 or No. 6.
HPCA is expecting more than 8,000 spectators to arrive for the match from outside the hill state. Representatives of the hospitality industry say most of the spectators have been enquiring about the nearby destinations from where they can see the mountains.
International cricket of a sort returns to Pakistan this weekend for the first time since the Sri Lanka team were attacked in 2009, but a resumption of tours by overseas sides remains a distant prospect.
While star players from IPL and other T20 leagues battle it out in the Champions League T20, there are quite a few big names that the tournament will sorely miss this year.