Lions captain Alviro Petersen is determined to make full use of the underdog status his side is tagged with for the Champions League Twenty20.

The South African franchise, who finished runners-up in the domestic Pro20 Series last season, are amongst the weakest teams in the September 10-26 competition.

But Proteas opener Petersen is quietly confident they can make major strides when the tournament begins in Johannesburg tomorrow.

"No-one is expecting us to do anything, so there's no pressure at all," he said.

"I quite like that - it means we can play our natural game.

"If we play to our potential, we could pull off some surprises.

"We don't have the big names like some of the other teams - in fact, on paper, we are probably the weakest team in the tournament.

"But cricket matches aren't played on paper and we believe we can knock some of those big names over."

The Lions are in Group B for the competition alongside Indian Premier League (IPL) sides Mumbai and Bangalore as well as South Australia and Guyana.

They open their account at the Wanderers tomorrow against Sachin Tendulkar's team and Petersen believes they are well prepared.

He added: "We're a very young team, but we have a lot of confidence in one another.

"We have quite a few options open to us.

"It's a big game and we know that they are more experienced than we are.

"But I think the pressure is on them - everyone expects them to win, but we can play our natural game and hopefully go away with the points.

"If we can start well against the Mumbai Indians, that could be the start of a good run."

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