Otago Volts coach Vaughn Johnson admits his side has had a dream start and it is not looking at the superstars it will face next week.
Otago qualified for the main draw of the Champions League with a six-wicket win over Sri Lankan side the Kandurata Maroons in India yesterday.
The side is now in group A of the Champions League and will play its first game, against the Mumbai Indians, next Tuesday morning, in Ahmedabad.
Before that it will take on the Hyderabad Sunrisers in Chandigarh early tomorrow morning, in a final qualifying match which means little, as both teams are through to the league.
Johnson, speaking from India yesterday, paid tribute to the players in winning two games to qualify.
''It has been a dream start, really. It has all come quite quickly. After quite a long preparation our intensity was drummed up over the past two or three days,'' Johnson said.
''I think we had them as good as were going to have them in terms of preparation. But we are going to have to up the ante in terms of going against these top sides.''
The win over the Sri Lankans was powered by another top-drawer effort from Dutch professional Ryan ten Doeschate.
He took a couple of key wickets with the ball when Kandurata looked like going on the charge, and then knocked a 32-ball 64 to guide the Otago side to victory as it successfully chased down 155 with two overs to spare.
Johnson was full of praise for the Essex all-rounder.
''Tendo stepped up and just looked like the champion that he is. We hung off and hung off as we really wanted him to come. We know what sort of player he is.
''At 40 for two, the game was poised and if we had lost another wicket, we could have been in trouble, but Tendo did the business.''
Ten Doeschate had arrived in Chandigarh, off a flight from England, less than six hours before the game was due to start.
''He did that last year and he's been doing it for a while now. He's played in a lot of different countries.''
Jimmy Neesham chimed in with an unbeaten 32 to get Otago over the line.
Johnson was undecided on whether to make any changes for the dead rubber against the Hyderabad Sunrisers.
The hot weather - it was well above 30degC - meant some players had been hit by sickness while others had the odd twinge. But he was confident everyone would front.
The team will also take on the Perth Scorchers, the Highveld Lions and the Rajasthan Royals in the Champions League over the next 10 days.
Otago will face players such as Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Shaun Tait in the Champions League.
But Johnson said the team would not be changing its approach.
''The success so far has not been built so much on who we are playing, but what we can do. We set ourselves targets, getting organised, the rotations we're using. What we can determine.''
He was not concerned with Nathan McCullum being hit for the second match in a row, saying the bowlers had to work as a unit.
The victory against the Sri Lankan team extends Otago's winning run in twenty20 games to 12, tied for third best in that form of cricket.
Johnson said winning was always good but it would be tough to maintain that in the coming few days.
