Pace spearhead Shaun Tait will be crucial to South Australia Redbacks' chances in the Airtel Champions League, feels leg spinner Cullen Bailey.

By Abhishek Hore

AH: You have had a great time in your career when you were awarded a contract by Cricket Australia. But then came a phase when you lost your contract. Do you believe a good performance in the Airtel Champions League will help in earning a berth in the national squad?

Cullen Bailey: I’m really looking forward to being a part of the Redbacks team. This is certainly a step in the right direction for me personally, but I’m really excited to be with the team and focused on contributing and playing against some of the best players in the world.

AH: Can we expect to see Cullen Bailey the leg spinner making batsmen hop in the ACLT20?

CB: Hopefully. T20 cricket is super-exciting and I can’t wait to bowl to some of the world’s best players.

AH: Is your team good enough to lift the title?

CB: I think we head into the tournament with relative underdog status compared to some of the other well known sides. However, we have a fierce desire as a group to win this tournament, and have been working really hard.

Our batting is really solid right from the top and our bowling, spearheaded by Shaun Tait, is a real strength, and we have an excellent keeper in Graham Manou.

AH: Talking about other teams in the fray, who do you think has the best chance of winning the league?

CB: I haven’t seen heaps of the South African teams but they’ll be hard to beat on their home soil and Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore, all look very dangerous as does Wayamba.

The other Australian team, Victoria will probably be one of the favourites as they have been very successful in T20 cricket for a while now, so it’s hard to pick just one.

AH:  Is the team going to miss Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard's services?

CB: Those guys are really good cricketers and it would have been great to have them in the Airtel Champions League, but we have the depth to cover those guys.

They brought all-round qualities and so a number of guys are going to step up, myself included, to make sure we are an even better team than in the Big Bash.

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