Page 143 - IPL 2

The top batting order was solid as a rock. Indian
132 DELHI DAREDEVILS
The batting coming good did not surprise
opening combination and best friends Gautam
Gambhir and Virender Sehwag at the top. If
you managed to get them out without them
knocking the shine off the ball and the smile off
your faces, you’d bump into AB De Villiers and
Tillekratne Dilshan, both foreign recruits who
couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong. Case in point
being their second game, which was against
Dhoni’s Super Kings. Viru and Gauti back in the
dugout with the team score in single digits. AB
and Dilshan in the middle, with a mammoth
build up job ahead of them. They put on their
hard hats and took a jackhammer to the bowling.
AB’s century, one of the best in the tournament
took the Daredevils near the 200 mark and
sealed the game. Right after them was the
underrated Dinesh Karthik. When Sehwag got a
niggle, David Warner stepped in to face the new
ball. David was a Goliath with the bat, wielding
it like a battle-axe - almost a pocket edition of
his compatriot Matt Hayden. With the batting
department so strong, it was the bowling at the
start of the tournament looked weak, and not
just in comparison. Which is the thought I had
that morning in the lounge. No one would be
losing any sleep over the Dutch fast bowler Dirk
Nannes and Nehra had been flirting with injury.
The only danger was Vettori, a wily miser in this
format of the game, but the 4 foreign player cap
may not let him play.
brett lee
anyone, but the bowling was the true revelation
of the 5 weeks in South Africa. Nehra chose
the tournament to announce his comeback to
big time cricket. His 19 wickets were the third
highest in the tournament, with only Kumble
and Purple cap winner RP Singh getting more.
Factor in that both played three games each
more than Nehra played and the statistics
tell a sweeter story for him. With Nannes
and Pradeep Sangwan getting 15 each, this
left arm pace attack left more than a few top
orders in disarray!
There was a no fuss approach to them in the
tournament. There was never any ego tussle,
no back room tension, and no controversy. They
were a tabloid’s nightmare, but a franchise
owner’s dream.
The Daredevils looked like a sure shot to getting
their hands on the beautiful diamond studded
trophy. It looked on course, till they ran into that
man called Gilchrist. There’s Christ in his name,
and there was God in his game. The semi final
became a stumbling block for the second year
in a row. But what could they do? For they were
felled by an innings that can only be described
as an act of god. And as the good book teaches
us - the devil is no match for God’s magnificent
fury, not even if you’re a Daredevil.
DELHI DAREDEVILS 133
gautam gambhir & virender sehwag