Page 142 - IPL 2
P. 142
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. to their foreign players. Mohamed Asif was not
We were greeted by the Daredevils CEO, Amrit making the trip but there wasn’t cause to worry
Mathur and a squeaky clean squad dressed as they had the legendary Glenn McGrath, it
in their team shirts. They didn’t look like they was then that Amrit dropped the bomb. “Our
had disembarked from a long haul flight a few bench strength is so strong that I suspect Glenn
minutes before us. In fact, they looked like a might not find a place in the eleven” he said. At
bunch of young management school graduates first I thought Amrit was playing mind games,
on their first company offsite. Keen and considering Dhoni had joined our conversation
enthusiastic, yet calm. It was no surprise, for too. But he’s a straight shooter and not one
that’s how the team’s owners run the franchise. known for frivolous talk. “Then who will open
With transparency and a no nonsense approach your bowling?”, I asked. “We have a fast bloke
to excellence. The team had the look and feel of called Dirk Nannes who plays for Holland.” He
great man management, the foundation stone replied. An unknown 32-year-old Dutch bowler
to greatness in any team sport. It was this very would keep a legend out of the playing 11! Either
calm energy that they would carry right through this man was really good or the Daredevils’
the tournament. management had seriously lost the plot. As
we all saw, it turned out to be the former.
There was never a crisis moment in the Daredevils What Nannes did was beamed all around the
campaign. If two key players failed in a particular world. What wasn’t though was how McGrath
match, two others would put their hand up. If responded to it all. And there in lay another
the batting underperformed, the bowling would clue to why this team was a well-bonded one.
make up for it. If the bowlers strayed, the fielders He did not cringe, didn’t complain. As hungry as
would put an extra effort in. What mattered was he is after 600 test wickets, he always puts team
winning, it didn’t seem to matter much who got before self. He laced up his spikes and took on
them the victory individually. The team would the roll of mentoring the bowlers and sharing
win as a whole, and win they did. They were the his vast knowledge. He even ran out with drinks
first to qualify for the semis, and had an envious in between overs. The psychological effect of a
win percentage. simple action like that on the younger players
is invaluable - its like glue for a team. And that’s
But let’s go back to that morning in Jo’burg, the glue that made the Daredevils stick to the
for the second point we’re trying to make. top of the table for most of the tournament.
130 DELHI DAREDEVILS DELHI DAREDEVILS 131
dirk nannes
