High PL : News

In a exclusive chat with Atreyo Mukhopadhyay, Adam Gilchrist says it’s a phenomenal effort by the whole team and the franchise to turn it around after finishing at the bottom last year. Nobody thought we would come this far before the start and here we are.

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist has attributed his underdog team's fairytale title-triumph at the Indian Premier League to a "culture of learning from mistakes" and playing a "smarter brand" of Twenty20 cricket.

The IPL trophy slipped out of their hands when Andrew Symonds dismissed Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in successive balls, reckons Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble.

"The match could have gone either way. I thought (Pragyan) Ojha did a wonderful job, picking those two wickets of Manish Pandey and Van der Merwe," Gilchrist said after Deccan Chargers beat B'lore Royal Challengers by six runs.

Bangalore Royal Challengers' owner Vijay Mallya believes his team goofed it up in the last five overs and served the IPL title on a platter to the Deccan Chargers.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the success of part-time bowlers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has given him more choices to explore at next month's Twenty20 World Cup in England.

Former India captain Kumble, who took over the reins from an unimpressive Kevin Pietersen midway through the league, said the party will start with one more win - the final.

"We were looking at around 160. We were some 15-20 runs short," said Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the post-match ceremony.

"I think Twenty20 cricket applies more pressure on the players. It is at par with Test cricket simply because in T20s it is a real battle of wits," says Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist.

Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag justified not playing Australian Glenn McGrath in any of the IPL matches, saying that the fast bowling legend was not match-fit and was also not in the form he was in last year.

India has the wherewithal to defend the Twenty20 World Cup in England but openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will have to overcome the fatigue factor if the team is to achieve the goal, reckons Sachin Tendulkar.

"I thought 153 was a defendable total but the way Gilchrist batted, we could do very little. It was Gilchrist's day," said  Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag.

IPL's new star Manish Pandey said his role model Sachin Tendulkar's knock in the first match against Delhi Daredevils gave him the confidence to make the most of the opportunity to open the innings against Deccan Chargers.

Disappointed at not being given a single opportunity in the on-going IPL, legendary Australian pacer Glenn McGrath has hinted at terminating his contract with the Delhi Daredevils and said he may not return for the next season of the Twenty20 tournament.

After becoming the first Indian batsman to slam a century in the IPL, Manish Pandey is convinced that he is made to fire with bat in cricket fields than firing bullets in the battlefield.