Their colours are not as visible in the stands like those of some of the other teams. You would see a lot of the Mumbai Indians’ blue or the Chennai Super Kings’ yellow at Kingsmead. There isn’t much on this front as far as the Deccan Chargers are concerned. But a walk around the park on Monday suggested that they are in — in the hearts of their fans.
“I support them because they have the best opening pair, better than Sachin and Jayasuriya,” said Riyaaz, a young fan, of the pair of Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs. “I like the Chargers because they have Gibbs,” snapped Ryan, another youngster in the big turnout, who likes the opener for his “down to earth nature”.
The darling of the crowd didn’t disappoint and anchored the Chargers to their fourth win in as many matches in IPL II. Gibbs’ innings had nothing to do with the out-and-out aggression that this version of the game is associated with.
Chennai Super Kings
P Patel c Gilchrist b Edwards 0 (2b), M Hayden c Sharma b Ojha 49 (35b, 8x4), S Raina c & b Sharma 25 (19b, 1x4, 2x6), MS Dhoni c Shoaib b Ojha 22 (22b, 1x4, 1x6), J Oram not out 41 (29b, 4x4, 2x6), A Morkel c Singh b Venugopal Rao 13 (7b, 1x4, 1x6), S Badrinath c & b Singh 8 (9b, 1x4), MS Gony not out 0 (0b). Extras (w 4, nb 3) 7. Total (6 wickets, 20 overs) 165.
Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-64, 3-102, 4-103, 5-129, 6-165. Bowling: F Edwards 4-0-21-1, RP Singh 3-0-32-1 (3nb, 2w), D Smith 1-0-17-0, Y Venugopal Rao 4-0-35-1 (1w), R Sharma 3-0-18-1, P Ojha 2-0-11-2, S Shoaib 3-0-31-0 (1w).
{{/usCountry}}Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-64, 3-102, 4-103, 5-129, 6-165. Bowling: F Edwards 4-0-21-1, RP Singh 3-0-32-1 (3nb, 2w), D Smith 1-0-17-0, Y Venugopal Rao 4-0-35-1 (1w), R Sharma 3-0-18-1, P Ojha 2-0-11-2, S Shoaib 3-0-31-0 (1w).
{{/usCountry}}Deccan Chargers
A Gilchrist c Muralitharan b Raina 44 (19b, 5x4, 3x6), H Gibbs not out 69 (56b, 6x4, 2x6), VVS Laxman c Oram b Raina 4 (5b), R Sharma c Dhoni b Balaji 18 (19b, 1x6), D Smith lbw b Muralitharan 12 (5b, 1x4, 1x6), A Bilakhia not out 12 (14b, 1x4). Extras (lb 2, w 3, nb 5) 10. Total (4 wickets; 19.3 overs) 169.
Fall of wkts: 1-67, 2-75, 3-114, 4-130. Bowling: L Balaji 3.3-0-41-1 (1w), MS Gony 1-0-20-0, (1w), A Morkel 3-0-29-0 (1nb), M Muralitharan 4-0-17-1 (1w), S Raina 4-0-18-2, Joginder Sharma 1-0-14-0, J Oram 3-0-28-0.