Page 141 - IPL 2

i t was 7 in the morning. We trudged into the
Chatting with Amrit the talk invariably shifted
transit lounge at Jo’burg airport loopy eyed.
We were greeted by the Daredevils CEO, Amrit
Mathur and a squeaky clean squad dressed
in their team shirts. They didn’t look like they
had disembarked from a long haul flight a few
minutes before us. In fact, they looked like a
bunch of young management school graduates
on their first company offsite. Keen and
enthusiastic, yet calm. It was no surprise, for
that’s how the team’s owners run the franchise.
With transparency and a no nonsense approach
to excellence. The team had the look and feel of
great man management, the foundation stone
to greatness in any team sport. It was this very
calm energy that they would carry right through
the tournament.
There was never a crisis moment in the Daredevils
campaign. If two key players failed in a particular
match, two others would put their hand up. If
the batting underperformed, the bowling would
make up for it. If the bowlers strayed, the fielders
would put an extra effort in. What mattered was
winning, it didn’t seem to matter much who got
them the victory individually. The team would
win as a whole, and win they did. They were the
first to qualify for the semis, and had an envious
win percentage.
But let’s go back to that morning in Jo’burg,
for the second point we’re trying to make.
130 DELHI DAREDEVILS
dirk nannes
to their foreign players. Mohamed Asif was not
making the trip but there wasn’t cause to worry
as they had the legendary Glenn McGrath, it
was then that Amrit dropped the bomb. “Our
bench strength is so strong that I suspect Glenn
might not find a place in the eleven” he said. At
first I thought Amrit was playing mind games,
considering Dhoni had joined our conversation
too. But he’s a straight shooter and not one
known for frivolous talk. “Then who will open
your bowling?”, I asked. “We have a fast bloke
called Dirk Nannes who plays for Holland.” He
replied. An unknown 32-year-old Dutch bowler
would keep a legend out of the playing 11! Either
this man was really good or the Daredevils’
management had seriously lost the plot. As
we all saw, it turned out to be the former.
What Nannes did was beamed all around the
world. What wasn’t though was how McGrath
responded to it all. And there in lay another
clue to why this team was a well-bonded one.
He did not cringe, didn’t complain. As hungry as
he is after 600 test wickets, he always puts team
before self. He laced up his spikes and took on
the roll of mentoring the bowlers and sharing
his vast knowledge. He even ran out with drinks
in between overs. The psychological effect of a
simple action like that on the younger players
is invaluable - its like glue for a team. And that’s
the glue that made the Daredevils stick to the
top of the table for most of the tournament.
DELHI DAREDEVILS 131