Delhi Daredevils skipper Gambhir admits that the team has never been convincing while conquering a target throughout the tourney
Delhi Daredevils skipper Gambhir admits that the team has never been convincing while conquering a target throughout the tourney
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From anger to resignation. That would pretty much sum up the way Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir described his side's campaign in the Indian Premier League as they handed the Deccan Chargers an 11-run win and a ticket to the semi-finals.
Gambhir looked pretty tired and out of sorts as his side failed to chase down a pretty gettable 145 and signed off from the Feroz Shah Kotla with a whimper.
"A score of 145 on this pitch was definitely gettable but we just weren't up to it," said the captain. "I can't pinpoint one or two things. The entire team is responsible and the entire team needs to take the responsibility for this."
Given that they were really not chasing anything massive, Delhi would have backed themselves, despite losing Virender Sehwag early, which seems to be par for the course with them this year. David Warner also wasn't the grand success he had promised to be. But still, there was enough in the tank to see them through. It was just a badly-planned and executed innings.
"We haven't been convincing while chasing, right throughout the tournament," said Gambhir.
"We haven't been as consistent as we needed to be. At one stage we needed to win two games out of five to make it to the semis, but to lose four out of the last five, we didn't deserve to be in semi-finals."
Gambhir is also pretty cheesed off with his openers, but in contrast to the last game, didn't take a pot shot at Sehwag, who has had a forgettable tournament.
"Sehwag is an impact player. But the problem was not with him alone. The top-order just didn't click. Our strategy was to go hard at the top but we always lost early wickets and were pegged back. This pitch played much better than anything before but we still did not get a chaseable score."
Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist is probably one of the most unflappable in the business, and having scraped through into the last four didn't really seem to make him even breathe faster.
"We always believed we had a chance to defend 145 here," he said. "At the toss, seeing the history of the ground, we had thought 150 would be a good score. Also, when Andrew Symonds and Mitchell Marsh were going well, we thought even 160-170 was possible. Symmo played a gem but we fell apart a bit towards the end."
"The first six overs of their innings were crucial," Gilchrist said. "We needed to restrict the boundaries and take wickets, and we did both."
Asked about the sordid Tharoorgate saga, Gilchrist responded: "It was difficult to follow, since it kept changing so quickly. So we as a team decided to focus on the game.
"My request to the administrators is ufffd let the game continue. We are seeing some high quality cricket here and it would be good if the game was allowed to carry on."
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