Sharma stays the course

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Sharma stays the course
Dharamsala: Rohit Sharma, the hero of the Deccan Chargers run-chase against Kings XI Punjab, was relieved to have won the game for his side in a hard-fought encounter. He spoke to the media after the game.

Excerpts:

On his innings: Yeah I think it was important to stay right till the end, considering the ground and everything – the wicket was completely good for batting so I thought one of the batsmen has to stay till the end. 175 is a pretty decent total I feel, but, you know, like I said, one batsman has to be there so that was my plan.

On whether he was worried after Andrew Symonds’ dismissal: Yeah, I think so, because he is in great form and obviously his wicket at that point of time was very crucial for us. But, as I said, one (batsman) had to stay there.

On the pitch: The wicket was very good, it was coming on to the bat well, but it was slow at one end because it was dry there and on the other side it was coming on well. So for the fast bowlers, I wouldn’t say easy, but the ball was coming on to the bat.

On how important KXIP wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara missing Tirumalasetti Suman’s stumping was: Yeah, obviously, because I was very new to the crease, and losing back-to-back wickets makes it difficult. So he was lucky I would say - he escaped.

On the preparations for the next match against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday: For the time being we’ve won this match so we are happy about that, tomorrow we’ll go to Delhi and think about that there.



Gilchrist praises Sharma character

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist was a happy man as he spoke to the media after the win against Kings XI Punjab.

Excerpts:

On whether he thought KXIP got too many runs at 174: From where we were we probably gave up a few too many at the end but overall I think that [it was a] 180 wicket. It’s a very nice wicket, I agree with everything Rohit said about the wicket just before. That dry area was a little bit dicey as far as coming on to the bat, where the grass was, you knew it wasn’t going to hold up too much. So [it was a] smallish ground, boundaries that are clearable - yeah I think we did well overall to keep them to that total.

On what he told Rohit Sharma after the narrow loss against Rajasthan Royals at Nagpur: I spoke with him and sent him a message late that evening. When I got back to the hotel I said what a wonderful innings it was and he should be proud of his efforts and he replied saying yeah but he should have finished the job for us. That shows you what a hard marker he is on himself and how desperate he is to succeed. I certainly didn’t feel any disappointment on his behalf that night. There were 10 others who could have contributed those two runs, but it’s good to see that’s the sort of player he is, he takes a lot of pride in finishing those innings, particularly in this format of the game.

On the individuals who have contributed to DC’s comeback: Yeah, I think everyone feels the same way, no doubt about it. And some guys have been able to go on and show with successful scores that they’ve adjusted and contributed the way they’d like to. Some of us haven’t but I do know everyone has got the same attitude and the same mindset in putting the team first and just being desperate to do whatever the team needs at the time. And, you are right, Symmo (Andrew Symonds) and Rohit (Sharma) and (Tirumalasetti) Suman have been stand-out performers in that regard.

On his form being a worry: The positive is I am not using up many deliveries (laughs), I am not chewing up too many balls for the big-hitters to come in. I’ll keep ‘em (big hits) in the bag till later (semis). Look, I am not going to get worried and talk up my situation, it goes without saying we all want to get runs, we all want to score heavily. I am missing out, and I’ll keep thinking about that, but I am not going to let that drag down what we are doing – [we have] a good roll going and, yeah, be ready, I’ll come good.

Would we see golf balls in your glove?: Ummm, no golf balls, maybe squash balls (laughs), golf ball might hurt.

On his experience of Dharamsala: I’ll speak extremely highly of it, we have loved our time up here. It really has been a pleasant experience, we’ve been made to feel so welcome by the locals here. From the hotel to the various restaurants to every person we’ve met on the street made us feel welcome. It felt as much like a home game as what we’ve had this season. So I think the crowd support was leading with Kings XI in the game, and that’s what it should be in their home game, but we’ve had a wonderful time.

On Shaun Marsh walking after nicking the ball: Most exciting (laughs).

On the pitch in Delhi (for their last match against the Daredevils): No, we’ll get there and have a look, see what’s it like, obviously it’s a low scoring wicket. It is back end of the summer and everyone knows it’s going to be slow and most likely a bit low. So we’ll just have to try and adjust our game and adjust our balance of our team. As I said out on the ground, there are two big games tomorrow, so we’ll know a lot more about our situation [and] what we do need to do in that game on Sunday.