Rajasthan is an ordinary side: Gambhir Bangalore, Wed, Mar 31 2010
Delhi Daredevils skipper Gautam Gambhir, who led his team to an emphatic 67-run win over the Rajasthan Royals, rubbed salt into the Royals' wounds by branding them an "ordinary side", with Yusuf Pathan being their only dangerous player.
At the post-match presentation, Gambhir said, "I think Rajasthan was never a threat. Except for Yusuf Pathan, the other guys were pretty ordinary. We thought Yusuf was the only danger-man and didn't bother too much about anyone else."
Gambhir revealed that in spite of the loss of early wickets - Delhi were 67/4 in the 9th over - he was not unduly worried, since he knew that Delhi had depth in batting and a competitive total was possible.
"Anything above 170 was going to be competitive, and our bowlers showed that today. We've got a lot of depth in batting, and we always knew that one big partnership would put us back on track even after losing 3-4 quick wickets.
"I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't spend more time in the middle. Once you get back from injury, you are a bit rusty and you want to spend time in the middle, and today was the ideal opportunity for me to do that.
"We [the Delhi team] had a bit of a dip, but we're peaking at the right time and hopefully we can continue that way. It's important to just keep playing well rather than concentrating on the points table."
Losing skipper Shane Warne rued that fact that his side had not taken advantage of Delhi losing early wickets, but gave credit to the Delhi team and to Man-of-the-Match Dinesh Karthik for their display.
"I thought for the first 15 overs or so, we had the game under pretty good control," Warne said. "Credit to Karthik - he played beautifully. We didn't execute our plans, but credit to Delhi for the way they played.
"Sometimes when you bowl first and you have 4-5 bad overs towards the end, the opposition gets all the momentum and a bit of a high. Delhi got that and came out and took two wickets in the first over. It happens in Twenty20, but we'll bounce back. That's the way we do it."
Asked about Yusuf Pathan's spot in the batting order, Warne revealed that there was indeed some discussion about sending him up the order, even perhaps as an opener.
"We talked about sending Yusuf Pathan up the order before the game - maybe even to open the batting. But Lumb and Ojha have done an excellent job with the bat. We also thought about him at Number 3, but then with those quick wickets in the first over, we just wanted to consolidate. We wanted to get a partnership, and then Yusuf could come in after that, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. The next couple of games are crucial and we have to execute our plans in those."
Dinesh Karthik, who hit a match-winning 69 off 38 balls, said he was happy to contribute at a time when the team really needed the runs. He said that he and Gambhir had planned to stay at the crease till the 15th over before hitting out.
"It was good to get some runs under my belt," Karthik said. "The team really needed them at that point of time, and I'm happy I got them.
"When I was batting with Gautam, we were looking at a target of 165-170. Gautam said we should just play through, because it was important that we stayed till the 15th over so that the batters coming in after that could just play freely without worrying about losing their wickets. The ball was stopping a bit and it wasn't easy to play strokes, especially for a new batsman, so it was important to take the onus and make runs once someone was set."
Karthik said he enjoyed keeping to the likes of Mishra (who took 3/25), and also enjoyed a healthy banter on the field - which he had with Shane Warne.
"It's a pleasure to keep to Mishra, and the way he's bowling is just fantastic. And the new kid on the block, Sarabjit Ladda, is doing very well too.
"It's always nice to have a bit of banter, especially with the likes of Warney. He's a legend. It was one of those days when things got going for me, and I enjoyed it."
http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/25128/rajasthan-is-an-ordinary-side-gambhir
AuthorTopic: 29th match: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals at Delhi, Mar 31, 2010 (Read 761 times)
