Anybody who missed the run chase of Deccan chargers against Delhi, missed one of the great innings ever played. Adam Gilchrist may have retired from Australian cricket, but he can never retire from the hearts of millions who would have watched that innings. It was as if he saved his best for such a match.
Deccan chargers had a clear plan in mind about this clash. Atleast we all should accept that they brilliantly executed the plans. Dirk Nannes is undoubtedly the ace bowler for Delhi so far. He was butchered by Gilchrist in his first over. 5 Consecutive boundaries. Each of the shot was better than last one played. A pull shot in front of mid wicket, a classical straight drive, upper cut over point boundary, a copy book cover drive and an elegant on drive. This is best example of showing one's range of strokes in short span of one's innings (5 balls). There is no slogging what so ever. Nannes' spell is disturbed. He was brought into attack again on 11th over after a strategic time out. Symonds was taking the attack to him and butchered him for two boundaries. Sehwag's alternate plans did not come off too.
Ashish Nehra was helped by Herschelle Gibbs, when he played an horrendous shot to get bowled out. Bilakhia was sent up the order to play a support role for Gilli.
Gilchrist continued his flare even better. Pradeep sangwan's first three balls to Gilli disappeared into the fence at a much faster pace than bowled. His six over mid wicket was a blow to all the players on field. Sehwag tried all options to stop Gilchrist. He brought on Dilshan, who bowled one good over by giving away 3 runs from it. Sehwag got a feeling that it might be part time bowler's day. He brought himself on and it turned out to be a disastrous move. An excellent cover drive off a no ball followed by three sixes was the least Sehwag would have anticipated.
There were couple of free hit deliveries on offer, both were dispatched by Gilchrist over the boundary line. Symonds was also in his brutal touch. He scored 24 runs off 15 balls, dispatching a six off Amit mishra. T.Suman played a polished innings along with Rohit Sharma to ensure a comfortable win. Pick of the bowler for Delhi was Amit Mishra on the day.
Earlier, when Delhi batted first, they started off very badly losing two wickets in first over, both Gambhir and Warner out for a duck. Sehwag and Dilshan did the repair work and at the end of the tenth over, Delhi was comfortably placed at 83 for 2. After the strategic time out, Delhi lost Sehwag and that to me, was a crucial blow. Once his wicket fell down, Delhi was focussing on keeping wickets till the end for a final onslaught. That strategy turned disaster for them. AB De villiers got out just when he was trying to accelerate. Dinesh karthik failed to complete their innings on a high. Dilshan lost strike most of the time and his momentum somehow got disturbed. All this added up to posting a score which Deccan would settle for, considering their plans for the chase. 153 was definitely achievable in a way that one of their opening batsmen should play a Gilchrist type innings. They were more than satisfied when Gilchrist himself played a Gilchrist type innings.
I feel sad for Delhi Daredevils because this is the second IPL season in succession they are getting knocked off in semi finals. Probably Mcgrath factor was missing, but inspite of his absence they did win convincingly in previous matches. But Mcgrath is a big match player and Sehwag could have considered him. He mentioned in the interview that he tried everything to stop Gilchrist, but I will end this article by saying he did not try Mcgrath.
Thanks,
Prashy.
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