V.V.S Laxman
It's a crushing disappointment to realise that I will not play any more part in this inaugural Indian Premier League. After a week of sitting out, I was hoping to recover from my wrist injury in time for tomorrow's game against Delhi but an MRI has revealed a hairline fracture which will take two more weeks to recover from. I cannot grip the bat at this stage and it is extremely frustrating to not be involved at a time when I felt I should have been in the thick of things and trying my best to get our squad back into some winning form. I wanted to contribute both as a batsman and as a captain but now I can only support the team from off the field and I will be with them in Delhi.
It's a crushing disappointment to realise that I will not play any more part in this inaugural Indian Premier League. After a week of sitting out, I was hoping to recover from my wrist injury in time for tomorrow's game against Delhi but an MRI has revealed a hairline fracture which will take two more weeks to recover from. I cannot grip the bat at this stage and it is extremely frustrating to not be involved at a time when I felt I should have been in the thick of things and trying my best to get our squad back into some winning form. I wanted to contribute both as a batsman and as a captain but now I can only support the team from off the field and I will be with them in Delhi.
Our points tally may not show it but we are a team that can beat anyone provided we play to potential. The disappointing aspect is that we have not been able to win two games in a row and this format of the game is so much about momentum. One stumble and the best and most confident of teams suddenly find that they've lost three or four games in a row.
Despite the frustrations of our results and now my injury, I will take away tremendous learnings from the IPL. The first two games were almost like a crash course in T20 for me: this is not conventional cricket and you certainly need to be unconventional in your thinking particularly as a captain. There is no mould for strategies like there may be for Tests or even one-days and you have just back your hunches at some times. For example, despite his inexperience we just had a sense that Vijay Kumar might just do the job for us. So we picked him for the game against Bangalore and he did superbly well; so sometimes the trick is to just listen to your instincts. Also you've got to be aware that as a captain, if you bowler has one good over the batsmen are bound to go after them in their second over. So the idea is to keep the batsmen unsettled by being quick and smart with the bowling changes and prevent the batsmen from getting into a groove.
Our next match promises to be a good contest because the Daredevils are a dangerous side despite their recent run of five straight losses. They tend to depend heavily on Veeru and Gautam to give them an explosive start; if that happens then the other Delhi batsmen come in and chip in around them. So getting Veeru and Gautam early is something that can give us a good foothold in the game.
I'm going to be telling all the lads to just think about their best performances and take confidence from them. It's important for a team in a position like ours not to be too down on itself and luckily we've got a lot of positive characters in the side. We shouldn't be thinking about the semi-final equations, just about going out there and playing good cricket. I'm just hoping that the Deccan Chargers streak of bad fortune will end right here.
Hawkeye Communications