‘Well and truly beaten’

Ahmedabad: Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist admitted that his side had been outplayed by Rajasthan Royals and more specifically by one man, Yusuf Pathan. Here’s more from his interaction with the media.

Excerpts

On what went wrong

Yeah well, we just didn’t play very well at all and I think we allowed them into the game very early and they took that invitation and really ran with it. So they truly outplayed us, well and truly beaten.

On the positives

Oh, Rohit [Sharma] played very well. He had started to show glimpses of that type of touch in his last innings or two, so that’s a real positive. Yeah it is difficult to for the bowlers - we just didn’t give them enough runs and then Yusuf [Pathan] plays an innings like that. You know it’s such a fine line - Pragyan Ojha [getting hit]. I think there was a leading edge the first six so it was pretty well bowled but it just goes for six and after that he hardly mis-hits a ball. So credit to him.

On Yusuf Pathan

Oh he hits the ball very, very well but it seems like his mis-hits still go for six. There are times when it doesn’t sound quite so sweet off the bat and you think it is a bit of a top edge or high on the bat, but it’s just his power that gets it over the fence. He played beautifully tonight. It’s no surprise - we all know his power. So we have got to go away and have a think about what we can improve on and that’s a lot from tonight.

On Herschelle Gibbs’ dismissal being the turning point

I think our problems began in the first over, you know, from my shot - that’s where our issues started. But Hershelle came out and played obviously with great intent and got us back on track. There were little basic things like our run outs and we just gave [Rajasthan Royals] enough opportunities and they were right on the ball and accepted every single one of them. That stumping, the
run-outs, the catching from them were generally just about perfect other than maybe one spilled chance.

On Rajasthan Royals’ fielding

Their fielding was very sharp - as I said we had a couple of [glitches]. We probably let them [into the game]. We created opportunities for them and they were good enough to take them. But you know, our running between the wickets was pretty average as well.

On credit to Warne – his bowling and captaincy

He bowled very well, there’s no doubt about it. As I say, we allowed them to dictate terms to us, we kept losing wickets and giving them [chances]. We gave a couple of soft wickets first up which then lets a team dictate terms.

On Rajasthan Royals’ chances of reaching the semis

Anyone is [in with] a chance for the semi-finals, seriously anyone is. Look at that, they lost three in a row and then they win three in a row. [Kings XI] Punjab, even though they are right down below, they have got a side that can play a game like that tonight. The last three games, they [RR] have won, they played well and won them. Anyone can turn it around on any given night and it is just that if you are not sharp enough and the opponent is [you lose], which they were very, very sharp tonight and right on the mark - and we weren’t. And that’s how easily it can turn around.

On Deccan Chargers’ chances for the semis

We are not even considering the semi-finals yet, you keep hearing every captain say it is still early in the tournament, there is still so much to go and we only say it because that’s true and there is no use saying I think we can or we are not - it’s just such a lottery. But what I do [know] is [that] we have got to play a lot better than we have played tonight.

On the next game against Mumbai Indians

That’s a good challenge. They’re obviously a team that’s playing really well. They have had a lot of home games. We play them in our home game in their home city [smiles]. We have got to play all teams twice so it doesn’t matter whether it is now or later in the tournament. It doesn’t matter who we are playing in the next game - we have got to improve and that’s what we will be trying to do.

On IPL 2010 being tougher than the earlier editions

It seems to be, at the moment. I think it is going to be a very tight competition. Last year was still very close, there were a lot of teams still in it but there were a couple of washouts last year, I think. That just may have divided the teams up a little bit but it is shaping up as a very close tournament at the moment.