Navi Mumbai: Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist was not looking for excuses after his side lost their fourth successive match on Sunday, against Mumbai Indians.
Excerpts:
On Harbhajan’s batting
He was the difference in the game, he obviously backed it up with the ball, but the batting probably changed the direction of the game. We were in a very strong position and Mumbai must’ve been eyeing a total of around 140-150 on a very good wicket. It was a nice batting wicket, but he just played an amazing innings and totally turned the game and backed it up with the bowling as well.
On how different Navi Mumbai was as a home venue
(Laughs) Tonight, [it] doesn’t matter where you play anybody, you can play someone on the moon or play someone in your backyard, you have got to front-up and play well. And we played well in patches tonight but we just let it slip so obviously if you need to play a home game and not feel like you have got a lot of support, that’s not an excuse, no way. We were just outplayed in the big moment.
On batting against spin (Harbhajan Singh) from the word go
It is not something that surprised me and lot of things are being done on you with a lot of different players and it’s a judgment call you have to make, bowling a spinner in the first six overs. You sum up the conditions, it obviously worked beautifully for them tonight. [It was a] fantastic catch by Sachin to hold on to that (to dismiss Gilchrist for 0) but it’s not a surprise. I don’t think anyone should be surprised it’s me or any other batsman in any other team. You walk out there at the top and face a spin bowler.
On Harbhajan being quite verbal on the field
I don’t know. Whatever happens on the field, can stay on the field. We can just leave it out there. We do not need to talk about it. There was enough good cricket that we’d rather [not] be focusing on what we said.
On whether the last five overs of Mumbai’s innings was when the match got out of their hands
Well, it did not get out of our hands. 172 was definitely chaseable on that wicket, definitely. But it turned the match around and, as I said, they followed it up with the ball. We again were a little guilty about a few of our strokes throughout the order, not someone batting at no. 9 or 10. Yeah, that was a turning point. Harbhajan’s innings was the turning point.
On Chargers not bowling well at the death
It was more the last two overs than the last five although, with two overs to go, we were still well positioned and I bowled (Kemar) Roach the 19th over just hoping that he might just knock over a wicket and help as the last over is such a dangerous over. But Kemar just bowled - I thought he bowled particularly well in his first three overs – and missed his target a little bit in that last over and again credit to Harbhajan, he just put the ball away and then in the last over the ball was a bit wet and Jaskaran Singh went off and when the spinner came in, Harbhajan was good enough again.
On DC’s bowling performance
Our [first] 18 overs were tremendous but unfortunately we got some tap for those [last] two overs so I guess there was definitely some positive signs there. That’s what we look for when we have a defeat at the end of any game. You look at what worked and what didn’t work and we talk about it, how bowlers can take a lot of faith from this game. They know what to do and they can do it. Obviously we just need to do it more often and right till the end of the innings.
On Herschelle Gibbs missing out again
He’s been good for us the whole tournament and you need your big players to fire obviously, [but he] missed out today. Herschelle got himself to 20 with ease and then frustratingly got out. But he’s aware of that and all the teams need one of their big players to fire and in the last couple of games Rohit [Sharma]’s done it but we just haven’t given him enough support so obviously we will be looking to do that and improve on that.
On the decision to bowl first
The decision to bowl first, I think, we had them six for 80 or six for 90 or whatever it was and right up until the last couple of overs I think it was proving to be a reasonable decision based on the assessment of the conditions. The wicket did not change, the wicket was beautiful till the end. In T20 cricket a lot of [the time it] doesn’t make a huge difference whether you bat or bowl first. I really don’t think the wicket deteriorates that much. Whatever it be, you have got to do well and do it for the whole innings. That’s what it was so, as I said, we had them under a lot of pressure and that’s what we were hoping to do tonight in these conditions.
On whether the way Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis bat is bringing method to the T20 madness
They have played extremely well, they have used their experience and the skills that they have. They have used them to the best of their ability. Everyone has their own style. A player like Harbhajan can do what he did, that’s like a (Virender) Sehwag-type innings and then you watch Sachin and Jacques play extremely well. They play very intelligently, that probably is a key ingredient. They probably have been very ‘match aware’ of those big situations. They are class players.
On the positives from the match
We have done things in bits and pieces. We have done some things really well and things badly. We have really done them badly. Now we are almost at the turn of the tournament, six-seven games, almost halfway, probably sums up the way we have played. If we continue like that we will always remain there or may be a bit further down. We are aware of that, we [need to] get more consistent. We know we can play and match it with these teams when we do, but we just haven’t found that consistency yet.
On finding the right combination in terms of foreign players
I won’t say we have too many options. We have got options there and Ryan Harris will join us in about five-six days so that creates another option for us. But like all the other franchises there is an abundance of talent sitting on the sideline, it is a juggling act, you try and get that right balance. We felt tonight the conditions were good for Roach and, as I said, three out of four overs he was spot on. Like all teams we will set teams based on individual conditions that we come across.
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