Tillekeratne Dilshan
It was an unbelievable display of batting by Mathew Hayden that took the game away from us at Ferozshah Kotla on Friday. It reminded me of the semi-finals of previous IPL where Adam Gilchrist had taken the game away with an equally awesome knock. Everything Hayden tried worked, and every shot connected the middle of the bat.
Talking of bats, it was also the first time one saw a player use the Mongoose, a bat that has been much spoken about in recent times. The interesting bit about the Mongoose is that the blade is probably as short as what the handles of conventional bats usually are. I have tried using this bat in the nets after the World T20 last year, but did not find it too comfortable, but given the manner in which Hayden batted, we could see more and more players turn to the Mongoose in the times to come!
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Our next game is against the Deccan Chargers and we are in Cuttack for this game. It is much hotter here and given that it is a day-game for us today, it will be much more difficult than playing in Delhi. If the first game played here is anything to go by, the pitch looks to be a high-scoring one. The Chargers have been on a roll after losing their first game of the tournament, and we will need to be at our best self to be able to overcome their strong batting line-up.
I had come into the tournament with a good form behind my back, but haven’t quite been able to do justice to it. In the previous game, I thought I got a start and should have carried on. I know for a fact that I need to convert the starts that I get and will need to bat till the 18th or the 19th over against the Deccan Chargers.
From their side, Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds have been at the top of their form in the tournament, and possess the capability to change a match around in a span of 2-3 overs. We already have our plans in place on how to correct the small mistakes that we made in our previous game and how would we be bowling to these two in particular.
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I think, there is not much to choose from between the two sides and the team which will make lesser mistakes in the game could end up winners.
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