Outplayed... yet again!

29th May 2008

The Deccan Chargers have won just two of their fourteen games at the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL). Slated to be one of the favourites before the tournament began, the Deccan Chargers slipped once, twice and then it was too late. Other teams looked at them as a stepping stone to make their way to the semi-finals and better their record in the tournament.

On Tuesday, the Chennai Super Kings did exactly that as they came up triumphant against the Adam Gilchrist-led side yet again and made a place for themselves in the semi-finals, relegating Mumbai in the process.

"I don't have any excuses. We were outplayed again. It's disappointing, no doubt about it. It's not the way we planned it to be," said a sombre Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist, who has been a part of triumphant Australian teams, is not used to losing but he optimistically seemed to draw hope from these losses saying, "It's not the end of the world. The sun will come up tomorrow, of that we can be sure. So that's another day and another chance to get better."

The former Australian wicketkeeper, who himself has had a good tournament with the bat, said every team will review their performances with a "fine tooth comb" now and that his team too will do the same. However he felt that they should "let the dust settle" before analyzing the cause of their defeats.

Gilchrist, who played a big role in his team's two wins, said that his side has a lot of positives they can take back from the tournament despite their consecutive losses.

"Rohit Sharma was fantastic. Pragyan Ojha has developed during the course of the series. A young guy like Vijay Kumar and a lot of other guys in our squad have learned plenty. I managed to scratch a few runs for myself which was great."

He blatantly admitted that since his team had been on the receiving end of losses for quite sometime, he felt a bit relieved that the tournament was over. However, he promised for a better show in the coming years saying that his players have the potential and confidence to stage a comeback in the future.

Gilchrist, who took over the reigns of the Chargers after the original captain VVS Laxman had to sit out mid-way die to an injury, termed the IPL as "one of the most amazing competitions that world sport has ever seen". He was also disappointed that his side failed to produce a victory in front of their home crowd in Hyderabad. The two Deccan Chargers' wins have come in away games, against Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

"We've had fantastic support throughout the tournament. The fact that we know there's a fan base there to support us is a wonderful feeling. To everyone out there, I can't thank them enough," said the gracious captain about the fans.

He ended with words of assurance saying, "I have no doubt that we have the ability to turn things around and repay that faith (of the fans)."