“Emulate the opposition that won today” must have been the words of Darren Lehmann as he exhorted his team to do better after their loss to Rajasthan Royals in the game the previous Saturday.
And the obedient boys just did that. If Rajasthan Royals slid to 3 runs for 3 wickets in 1.6 overs, the Chargers were not very different at 1 run for 3 wickets in 2.1 overs! Dwayne Smith batted in the manner of a Yusuf Pathan. Remembering the Asnodkar and Carseldine mix-up which led to the former’s run out, Chargers gave the Super Kings atleast three run out opportunities off a single stroke!
The explosive start from Hayden and the quickfire cameo by Raina was good enough a platform for Dhoni to move from a largely run-a-ball innings to cap off with a half-century which not surprisingly got him the Man of the Match award, ahead of the more deserving Jakati.
179 was a big ask for the Deccan Chargers, a chase that could have only been on had Gibbs and Gilchrist repeated their explosive start aginst the Super Kings yet again. Both failing to open their accounts, and the wonderful cameo from Smith and the comical fielding lapses of Super Kings apart, this was one terribly one-sided and boring encounter!
As IPL-2 enters the crucial phase, lots of new names (Jakati, for example) are cropping up. It’s nice to see IPL providing a platform for these promising newcomers. Also, these second (or third) line cricketers have nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing their hearts out in an event like this. However, whether the same players would shine in a more serious cricket format or at the international level (for instance, T20 World Cup) is debatable.
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