Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist lit up the night with his boyish enthusiasm and glowing brightness long before the fireworks went off around SuperSport Park at the end of the semifinal of the DLF Indian Premier League here on Friday. His 35-ball knock of 85 runs (10 fours and five sixes) will stay etched in the minds of all those who were privileged to watch it here or from the comfort of their drawing rooms or on their computers.
It seemed he had single-handedly powered his team into Sunday’s final with a six-wicket win over the fancied Delhi Daredevils. But the truth is that his bowlers had done well to stop Delhi Daredevils at 153 for eight in 20 overs after Virender Sehwag and Tillekeratne Dilshan took the team batting first to 83 for two in 10 overs.
Sehwag's fall in the 11th over slowed things down for Delhi Daredevils and men like Dilshan - who batted like a dream when Sehwag was around -- AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik were unable to make much headway in the second half of their innings. After Andrew Symonds trapped Sehwag in front, bowlers like rookie Harmeet Singh and Rohit Sharma did well to pull the game back decisively for Deccan Chargers.
Delhi Daredevils had come back so strongly after losing openers Gautam Gambhir and David Warner to Ryan Harris, who bent his back and generated extra bounce, in the first over. But for a side that was expected to top the 180-run mark and put the match beyond Deccan Chargers, Dilshan, de Villiers, Karthik and the others were unable to justify the favouritsm.
Chasing a total that was at least 25 runs less that most would have expected, Deccan Chargers – nay, Adam Gilchrist – walked out with purpose. He hit five successive boundaries off a hapless Dirk Nannes in the opening over to regale the fans and leave Delhi Daredevils bewildered. Captain Sehwag did all he could to stop the Gilchrst show from running for long but in vain.
When Dilshan bowled a good first over, Sehwag was motivated to try his own off-spin but Gilchrist delighted in taking 25 runs, including three sixes in-a-row, off the only over that the Delhi Daredevils captain bowled in the tournament. Deccan Chargers were 84 for one at the end of the over, Gilchrist himself having scored 74 of those runs in an amazing exhibition of hitting.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra bowled four splendid overs, first to end Azhar Bilakhia's status as the most privileged spectator in the ground andthen to end the mayhem caused by Gilchrsit before the strategic break. He returned to tie the other batsmen down and get the strokeful Andrew Symonds out but Gilchrist had done too much damage to the Delhi Daredevils cause.
With Tirumalasetty Suman picking up the runs, Deccan Chargers’ vice-captain Rohit Sharma played a quiet, guiding role at the end. He ensured that Deccan Chargers would not crumble under pressure on the home stretch as they had done quite a few times earlier in the tournament. Not on a night when Hurricane Adam had uprooted Delhi Daredevils.
Yet, when they head home on an earlier flight than they would have liked, it is possible that Delhi Daredevils think of how Gambhir was frustrated by a new ball bowler with a series of dot balls and eventually threw his wicket away in IPL semifinal for the second year running. And the tournament's most consistent and balanced squad fell short of the final again.
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