Delhi daredevils are the team who have the hardest hitting batsmen in Virender Sehwag, the batsman who scored the maiden century of the tournament in 2008 in David Warner and the first century scorer in the second edition of the same last year in South Africa. Sad that they are found gasping for a win even against an average team in Deccan Chargers who have to depend upon just one or a couple of their batsmen in case they have to see their team victorious. But, if yesterday's game is considered, the stats look to be reversed for both the Deccan Chargers and the Delhi Daredevils as well.Out of the 8 batsmen who took to the crease from the Deccan Chargers side, as many as five of them were worth the money what they were paid and also worth the hope their captain showed in them when they were selected in the playing eleven. All the five batsmen who came out scoring double figure scores had their strike rates above hundred. This was one of the rare occasions of the Deccan Chargers' innings not being dominated by Adam Gilchrist alone or by Andrew Symonds alone. Instead, in addition there were players like Herschelle Gibbs and Rohith Sharma as well who contributed.Much to the surprise of everyone, all these five batsmen under discussion had a six to their credit and moreover, all the sixes hit in the Deccan Chargers' innings came from the bats of these five batsmen only with the share of the remaining batsmen being negligible zero. So has been the story regarding the number of boundaries hit in the Deccan Chargers' innings. And, this has to be obvious when no other batsman from the Deccan Chargers' side had their individual score go past 3 runs. And if the bowling of the same is considered, 4 out of 5 bowlers who could have bowled their full quota of 4 overs were found doing the same.Only the remaining four overs were divided between R P Singh and Rohith Sharma. On the Delhi Daredevils side, there were just three of them who could do the job as batsmen with Sehwag surprisingly not being listed. Whenever the Delhi Daredevils' batsmen take to the crease, all eyes would be on Virender Sehwag who in the current edition is found to disappoint either as captain or as batsman. 7 of the 11 batsmen from the Delhi Daredevils side returned back to the pavilion scoring single digit scores and one batsman in Moises Henriques was quite intelligent when he didn't fall into that category of batsmen who scored less than 10 runs when he got out scoring 11 runs so that no fingers point towards him.
Well from Eden gardens to Lahore in 1997, there have been much disturbances to the sporting action on the field, most of which has resulted in abandoning the matches. No one can forget the way the semi finals of the Wills world cup 1996 was washed out due to fan fury in the game between India and Sri Lanka when the scoreboard for India read 120/8 during their unsuccessful run chase of 252 imposed by Sri Lanka. However, hardly anyone would have noticed the way India lost the third ODI to Pakistan in Lahore which saw Ijaz Ahmed blasting a 84 ball unbeaten 139 to take Pakistan through in just 26.2 overs.It was neither India's weak bowling nor the strength in the Pakistani batting line up that saw such a splendid performance from the Pakistani batsmen. But, it was the stone throwing incident in the 2nd ODI at Karachi that made India surrender the 3rd ODI to Pakistan. Then there have been many such incidents like the first three ODIs between India and West Indies, which took place irrespective of whether India won or lost. The third ODI between India & West Indies had to be called off after 27 overs owing to a stone throwing incident despite India being in a dominating position and were ultimately declared winners. The other incidents that need not be highlighted specially is the one in the 1996 world cup where Australia and West Indies cancel their group matches against Sri Lanka scheduled at Colombo after news papers reports of LTTE strikes in the city, that was favored to Sri Lanka finally. Then comes the way England and New Zealand call off the matches against Zimbabwe and Kenya anticipating some trouble from the crowd especially England in 2003 world cup. The ugliest of them all being the one in the 2nd finals of the Commonwealth Bank series 2008 where a streaker was hit by Symonds after smuggling himself onto the field at Brisbane.There was a similar incident even in the previous game as well that was let off lightly. The latest one that we hear is the one recently in the fifth and the final one day match of the first part of the Commonwealth bank series between Australia and Pakistan, where a spectator comes in from behind and hugs on to Khalid Latif in the deep. The case was hardly any different when a fan was found throwing a water bottle at a Pakistani fielder in Bangalore in 1999 after India's chances of winning was ruled out by the Wasim Akram led side. This has to be something that the ICC should keep an eye upon at least in Australia, where such incidents are fresh unlike the ones in the sub-continent.
Just two posts back, I had stated regarding the class of a team that could help the team in getting itself into better position despite a loss. The Kings XI Punjab once again proved this by pulling off a last ball victory against the Deccan Chargers and restrict their successive loss to 3 at the moment. Still, the Kings XI Punjab are not placed in the top four of the IPL. But, if they continue to show the same class as they showed in their games so far, they can make it to the semis this time as well. One view would place them even higher compared to the Deccan Chargers who at the beginning of the tournament were one of the undefeated teams in this series.In today's cricketing world, a last ball victory is no longer a subject of thrill. Not even a last ball six when the situation demands the same is enough to thrill the audience who are watching the feat being achieved almost once a year. It was the time when Javed Miandad hit a last ball six at Sharjah when the team required 4 runs off the last delivery. That feat made him be alive in the hearts of many cricket fans over the world. After this, there have been a number of such feats. But, the concern is that, they are found repeating itself recently after 2005.I still remember Inzamam Ul Haq scoring a boundary against India in the last ball of the match when Pakistan required 1 run off the last ball. Then, in a match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe won the match when one of its batsmen hit a last ball six. Also, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderapaul scored a last ball six to see his team through against Sri Lanka last year. So, now a days incase the match is to be considered as a last ball gasp, the team should emerge victorious scoring something like 24 runs off the last over. This should happen once in a bluemoon incase the fans have to rejoice the moment.Anyway, in the match between the Kings XI Punjab and the Deccan Chargers, the degree of bad luck of Andrew Symonds was evident when despite him scoring the lone half century of the match had to compromise with the losing side. On the other, another entry in Brett Lee had a wonderful day not with the ball but with the team, for he belonged to the winning team. Even last year, Andrew Symonds was in the losing in the match against the Rajasthan Royals despite him scoring a hundred. In the sense, the hundred scored by Symonds was the fastest one till date, until Adam Gilchrist overtook the same against Kings XI (I guess).
In the last and the first edition of the Indian Premier League, it was the Deccan Chargers who ended up as the last team on the points table even rivaling the Royal Challengers Bangalore whom most of them thought to make it to the last position. But, it is indeed a dream to even imagine a team which was positioned last in the previous edition to emerge as first in this edition. This happening despite any changes hardly being made to the team. The only change that the Deccan Chargers team has undergone since its launch is that the side has been captained by Adam Gilchrist which was until then done by VVS Laxman.However, I don't give much cheers to the Deccan Chargers team for topping the charts this year. Instead I blast them for being the chokers in the first edition of the same for the team was gifted with players like Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs to mention a few. And on the bowling side, they had the likes of Pragyan Ohja, Lasit Malinga and Dwayne Bravo head the list. With such players, there was absolutely no reason whatsoever for the Deccan Chargers to put up such a dismal performance. Of course, Royal Challengers could be given an excuse for the players that were chosen were Sunil Joshi, Wasim Jaffer whose abilities need not be mentioned specially.I still remember Deccan Chargers losing the match against the Rajasthan Royals despite Andrew Symonds notching up a century. Perhaps this was until then the fastest century of the tournament until Adam Gilchrist overtook the same. However, it is indeed nice to see the same Deccan Chargers come back to claim the top position that was thought to be dominated by Rajasthan Royals or the Chennai Super Kings like last year. At the same time, this could not have been possible without the support of Mumbai Indians in the match for they succumbed from a score of 86/1 to 92/4. If this is the batting display of any team, i wonder whether it is difficult for any opposition to win the match from there onwards?Well I think that a clear cut picture would not be available right now for there is one more round to go after this once, with the present round yet to go. May be that Deccan Chargers might go down as well and like last year, Royal Challengers might just miss out on being in the last position like they did last year by claiming the second spot if the list is viewed from the bottom to top. Or, there are other teams like Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians who have the potential in them to make it to the top. Of course, the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers are a gone case.
