Cuttack: Deccan Chargers’ skipper Adam Gilchrist finally got the monkey off his back when his side registered their first home win in India. The new home proved to be lucky for Gilly’s men as they survived the Irfan Pathan scare to register a six-run victory here at the Barabati stadium on Friday.
Here’s what Gilchrist had to say after the win
On Irfan Pathan’s innings (60 off 29 balls)
It was a great innings by him [Irfan Pathan]. You know that sort of an innings was possible in this form of the game. It is never over till the last ball is bowled. Irfan showed some great fighting ability. He did give us some switches in the nerves but we had done the hard work earlier to get into that position of reasonable comfort - but great effort by him.
On the senior cricketers coming good
Yeah, I think they have played well. There has been some quality cricket by some quality cricketers. Jacques Kallis has played some beautiful innings. It was time that Matty (Matthew Hayden) gets comfortable and starts contributing. You know clean innings like that of Haydos (Matthew Hayden) and Symos (Andrew Symonds) with clear mind is refreshing. Given the fact that these performances have come early on despite the fact that we don’t have much cricket other than this tournament is great. The way Kallis has been played it is wonderful to watch him.
On breaking the home jinx
If you want to consider that as our first home win then you can stop focussing on that for now. We had a lot of home wins in South Africa last year. We were not focussing on that - in fact we were just focussing on the points table yesterday and now we can just tick that off. We have been putting a lot of attention on that win against Kings XI Punjab.
On his thoughts on the upcoming matches
It is hard to tell as we have played just three games. We have had the same XI in the last three games. Obviously we will have a look now. We have to have a look at VVS Laxman and everyone after the first week. Maybe tomorrow we will sit and think about the game on Sunday. Look, we have played some fantastic cricket. We showed signs of good cricket in the first game [against Kolkata Knight Riders] but we let them off. We played a very dominant game against Chennai Super Kings and now here. So it is a good sign. There were openings from where the opposition has made a comeback and we would like to eradicate those. We are pleased where we are after three games.
On Chaminda Vaas
He [Chaminda Vaas] plays in these conditions beautifully. With other senior guys putting their effort in batting like Symmo [Andrew Symonds], he is one who has taken responsibility in the bowling department. He is experienced, clever and a very skillful bowler. He has been playing domestic cricket so he has been in good touch.
On Andrew Symonds
He [Andrew Symonds] has been a quality cricketer for over a decade for Australia. And credit to him because he has been out of the game but still he is fit. His desire to play in IPL and win matches is enormous.
On training and fitness programmes for senior cricketers
To be honest you don’t need to train that hard [when you are at] Haydos’ [Matthew Hayden’s] or my age.
On Virender Sehwag and Delhi Daredevils
He [Virender Sehwag] is an absolute beauty to watch. I like watching him play. We will obviously keep him in mind when we start planning for our game against Delhi Daredevils. But we will keep the whole batting line-up in mind. You know there are times when you think you have got the danger man out and then someone else chips in like Pathan did tonight. And Delhi Daredevils have got that kind of players through their batting line-up.
On batting performance against KXIP
I think we were short of what we wanted to score on this pitch today. We were in a position from where we should have scored. They held on to some amazing catches and we didn’t have someone like Symmo for the last three overs. The boundary ropes made sure that the size of the ground was smaller than its actual size. I think they should play on big grounds to make it more intriguing.
On the rotation policy for youngsters
We haven’t rotated our Playing XI in the last three games. We will assess the fitness of all our guys. And we have obviously got good depth in our squad. Guys like Azhar Bilakhia and a few others will definitely get their chance as we move forward in the tournament. It is a long tournament, so we will be rotating players.
Meanwhile, Andrew Symonds who scored fifty in Deccan Chargers’ six run win revealed that the preparation for IPL began earlier than the actual camp in India.
On his preparations for IPL 2010
For me the preparation started eight weeks ago in Australia. I underwent a fitness programme and I started batting two weeks before I landed in India for IPL. Obviously when we came here we had to adjust to the conditions.
On the success of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden
They [Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden] are real good players and that is why [they’ve been successful]. They are great players.
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