Page 175 - IPL1

when fielding restrictions encouraged batsmen to go for broke.
No one bowled more overs with a better economy-rate than his
6.61, and the stranglehold he routinely applied forced batsmen
to take risks at the other end.

Not that this proved easy either. Assisting McGrath was
Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif, a bowler who had made his
admiration for the Australian clear enough in the past and who
for a while resembled the sorcerer’s apprentice. Asif fell away as
the tournament progressed and he was later accused of failing
a drugs test, but McGrath had plenty of assistance in the shape

of Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof, another seamer who seemed
capable of landing the ball on a 100-rupee note with his eyes
closed. Often under-rated, Maharoof finished with an economy-
rate of 6.91 (anything under seven in the helter-skelter world of
Twenty20 is truly outstanding) and included among his golden
spells analyses such as two for 11 against Rajasthan Royals and
two for 13 against Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Added into this overseas mix were the likes of Vijaykumar
Yo Mahesh, a 20-year-old seamer, who with 16 wickets ended
up claiming more victims than any of his more celebrated
colleagues, and the tricky legspinner Amit Mishra, who conceded
fewer than seven an over – a small miracle for a back-of-the-
hand twirler – and included figures of five for 17 against the
hapless Hyderabadis. It was to Delhi’s credit that the services
of New Zealand’s captain and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori
were hardly required, despite his performances at the World
Twenty20, where he went for a mere 5.33 runs per over, the
lowest figure in the tournament, while collecting 11 wickets.
Even so, figures of one for 14 in four overs against Bangalore
Royal Challengers in one of only two games he played before
joining his compatriots on their tour of England were a reminder
of what he was capable.

The sum of the parts was a beguiling mix of aggression, style,
dedication, parsimony and novelty, and four wins in their
first five games marked Delhi out as a team to watch. Four
straight defeats followed as the team threatened to lose their

momentum, but their only other loss thereafter came in the
semi-final against Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals. It was a
setback that will make this most resourceful of franchises all
the keener to do even better in 2009.