Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag admitted he was helpless as Adam Gilchrist blasted the Deccan Chargers to a shock win in the first Indian Premier League semi-final at Centurion Park on Friday.
“He batted extremely well,” Sehwag said after Gilchrist’s 85 off 35 balls took Deccan to a six-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare. “The bowlers tried everything — yorkers, full tosses, full length, short pitched — and everything went for fours and sixes.”
There were five sixes and 10 fours from the former Australian star as the Hyderabad-based Chargers eliminated the tournament favorites.
PHOTO: AP
It was the first time in five matches spread over two seasons that Deccan had been able to beat Delhi, who posted 153 for eight after being sent in.
That target soon looked easy as Gilchrist went on the rampage, hitting a 17-ball half-century, the fastest in the IPL’s short history.
Deccan captain Gilchrist, who had not played cricket in almost a year since last year’s IPL, said batting was “a bit like riding a bike, you don’t forget what you have to do, but it’s been a great experience to come back after a year off.”
Gilchrist paid tribute to his bowlers and fielders for keeping the pressure on Delhi.
“The guys did a great job to restrict them to 150. The previous three games we’ve been in the same scenario with two overs to go and ended up chasing 170 to 180,” Gilchrist said.
Gilchrist hit five successive boundaries off compatriot Dirk Nannes in the first over of the Deccan innings.
Herschelle Gibbs was bowled playing a reckless shot against Ashish Nehra in the next over, but Gilchrist continued his assault, hitting 15 off an over from Pradeep Sangwan, then 13 off Nehra as the total raced to 56 off four overs.
Tillekeratne Dilshan managed an economical over of off-spin, conceding only three runs, but Sehwag was smashed for 25 runs in his only over, including three successive sixes by Gilchrist, one from a free hit following a no-ball.
Gilchrist was third man out when he top-edged an attempted big hit against leg-spinner Amit Mishra to backward point off the last ball of the 10th over with the total on 102. Amid the carnage handed out to the other bowlers, Mishra took three for 19 in his four overs.
Deccan made a great start when Ryan Harris dismissed both Delhi opening batsmen for no runs in the first over.
But Sehwag (39) and Dilshan (65) counterattacked in a third wicket stand of 85 and Delhi were on target for a challenging total before they lost four wickets for eight runs off the last seven balls of the innings.
Harris finished with three for 27.
Delhi finished top of the table in the round robin stage, winning 10 of their 14 matches, while Deccan scraped into fourth place with seven wins and seven losses — a big improvement on their performance last year when they finished bottom of the table.
“In Twenty20 cricket you always fancy your chances,” Gilchrist said of the final. “In a two-horse race, anyone can win.”
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