The IPL fever is catching on and fast! From the iSport IPL Paddock, loyal fan and iSporter Issac John tells us the eight factors that govern the Deccan Chargers and what their impact can be in IPL season 3!
In 2008, as a DC fan, one was subjected to some annoying comments in beer sessions with colleagues whereby keen followers of some equally annoying teams like Kings XI Punjab would say, “You guys should change your team name to Dhakkan Chargers.” DC won 2 matches out of 14 that season.
On the night of 21st May, 2009 – yours truly didn’t really celebrate much except just sank in the bean bag after an extremely pulsating 3 hours of cricket and rewind to those comments made in 2008 and feel good about Deccan Chargers lifting the championships just a year later. I should say “feel-real-good.”
Come 2010 and Gilly is beaming at us from our television sets in a commercial – “And this time, we’ll do even better – we’ll win it in front of you.” he says.
As a pre-cursor to the third season, mentioned below are 8 factors that made all the difference for DC between Season 1 and Season 2 and how Season 3 for DC would get impacted with respect to those key factors.
1. Fiery Fidel: Fidel Edwards did a lot of damage up the order against top-class batting teams in Season II. If Gilly was providing the brisk starts, Fidel was ensuring no opposition could just run away with the game. Ponder over this: When Fidel was around DC won 4 of their first 6 games, once Fidel left, DC won only 3 of their next 8 league games! In his first match against KKR, he gave away a measly 6 runs in 4 overs – if Kemar Roach the new recruit for DC does even half as well, the team would’ve had a great start.
2. Stunning Sharma: Rohit Sharma fired big-time in Season I. More importantly though, he closed matches in Season II. No words can describe his importance in the middle-order in shoring up bad starts and catapulting good starts to big scores! If he continues his robust IPL form, DC will have lesser worries on the batting front.
3. The R.P. Singh and Pragyan Ojha duo: I am not sure if South Africa is RP Singh’s favorite country but it surely is a happy country as far his bowling form goes. Not only was he in devastating form in South Africa for India in the World Cup but also quite good when he returned for IPL –II. While Fidel choked the batsmen on one end, RP and Ojha got the wickets. RP also bowled a very good last over to choke Robin Uthappa in the finals! This time around, I suspect he’ll struggle in India like he did in 2008. Though, in close matches, he’s the only one Gilly will trust to bowl the last over. Little should change for Pragyan Ojha – my prediction is that he will emerge as the most successful spin bowler for 2010. Like Rao, he has a solid experience of 2 full seasons and his having turned out in Indian colours in the interim would’ve also done his confidence a world of good.
4. Tight Fielding: Led by Gibbs, DC’s fielding was top-notch in Season II. Symmo, Gibbs and Sharma form an excellent off-side cordon. Venugopal Rao, R.P Singh and Ryan Harris caught everything in the outfield in 2009. DC is a highly under-rated fielding side – just refresh your memory with Harmeet Singh’s catch in the final in a nerve-wracking situation and you’ll know what I mean. ‘Crackerjack’ as Mark Nicholas would put it. Darren Lehmann is known to put a lot of sweat on the fielding front and it will continue to show in Season III.
5. Anchor Men: The problem with DC in 2008 was that Rohit Sharma and Adam Gilchrist were playing anchor men and pinch hitters at the same time. In 2009, Gibbs, Rao and Suman played the sheet anchor role to perfection in different matches. Responsibilities got shared and that allowed the natural stroke players Gilly, Sharma and Symonds to play with a free-hand. With the experience of two seasons to back him, Venugopal Rao will play an even bigger role in 2010. Suman will continue to get his chances along with Azhar Bilakhia and the DC team management has to see that they graduate from fringe players to players with clearly defined roles in the batting order.
6. The Big-Man: In a pre-match interview before the final, Symonds had commented, “Our team has players who can win the big moments.” Ultimately, it was Symonds himself who took two crucial wickets – Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli off consecutive balls in a seesaw situation and effectively closed the lid on the RCB chase. His sheer presence alone has a pulverizing effect on the opposition! Nothing will change in Season III.
7. Support bowlers: Rohit Sharma, Rao, Suman and Symonds all got wickets in critical situations for DC. The number of times these bowlers got wickets for DC was uncanny. Of all the bowlers, Rohit Sharma got a hatrick. This factor won’t go the DC way this year. On the contrary, I suspect these bowlers will go for more runs on flat Indian pitches.
8. Gilly: Now, die-hard nuts like me will also point out that we had a better dress in 2009 and a better logo. But we’ll also remind you that we had a much better captain. Gilly was simply the most influential factor in the last edition–blistering starts, maximum number of sixes, astute captaincy, safe-as-a-locker keeping and a match-winning century against DD in the semi-finals – there’s nothing Gilly couldn’t accomplish in IPL –II. DC can actually afford to get all above seven factors wrong and yet if Gilly gets going, DC will win any match from any situation handsomely! That’s the good thing about having someone like Gilly in your team but that’s also the bad thing about a team that relies so much on one player.
And now here’s a startling statistic. Of all the IPL teams DC is the only team to have not won even a single match at home! It’s high time to rectify it this year and if the glint in Gilly’s eyes in the DC commercial is anything to go by, he will not only rectify it, he will re-write the destiny of the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium to neatly tuck the DLF IPL -2010 trophy in their headquarters on the morning of 26th April, 2010.
On that note, I wish all the other teams the best of luck!
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