Udal eyes Champions League glory

Udal is thriving on underdog billing for the Champions League

Middlesex captain Shaun Udal is sure their success in the Twenty20 Cup will help them in the Champions League.

The Crusaders will play for £2.5m in the inaugural competition in India but, with doubts about the availability of top names, are billed as underdogs.

Udal told BBC London 94.9: "I believe we can win it. We were underdogs all summer and that was fine."

Middlesex have left Andrew Strauss out of their squad, with Nick Compton in.

Owais Shah is one of 15 named in the party, however, but England could yet insist he is left out as they prepare for the two-Test series in India.

Middlesex open the event with a group stage match against Australian winners Victoria in Mumbai on 3 December.

They then face the South African champions Pretoria and the runners-up from the Indian Premier League, the Chennai Super Kings.

Udal added: "Yet again we're underdogs, so we can sneak in the back door, win a couple of group games and all of a sudden you're in the semi-final.

"Then it's huge for everyone involved and the trophy might have Middlesex's name engraved on it."

This is the competition that matters to us. A chance to test ourselves against the best teams in the world. It is the big one, basically the Stanford thing was a big show.

Middlesex skipper Shaun Udal

Despite a poor overall record in Twenty20 cricket and a couple of barren years in the county championship, Middlesex lifted the domestic cup with a finals day win against Kent, their 11th victory in 13 matches in the 2008 competition.

The recent Stanford Series in Antigua did not go according to plan, though, as the Crusaders lost all three matches including their prize-money match against Trinidad and Tobago.

But Udal is not reading too much into the results in the Caribbean and expects a more professional approach in India.

He added: "This is the competition that matters to us. A chance to test ourselves against the best teams in the world. It is the big one, basically the Stanford thing was a big show.

"This is serious cricket against some serious sides. I think there will be a more serious side to the whole competition than there was in Antigua.

"We did not have any time practicing in the middle and we did not have any time practicing under the lights. So we went into the first game against England not having played on the pitch and not used to the conditions at all.

"That won't be the case in India, we have got lots of practice time, lots of evening time under the lights, so our preparation will be a lot better for that.

"India is a fanatical about cricket, it is a religion out there. I know the people out there are looking forward to it immensely and hopefully we can go out there and do ourselves justice and bring home the prize."

Squad: Shaun Udal (capt), Alan Richardson, Ben Scott, Billy Godleman, David Nash, Dawid Malan, Ed Joyce, Eoin Morgan, Gareth Berg, Murali Kartik, Nick Compton, Owais Shah, Steven Finn, Tim Murtagh, Tyron Henderson.

The BBC Sport and BBC London websites will stream coverage of all Middlesex matches in the competition for listeners in the UK.