Headless chickens run haywire. On Friday afternoon, the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings, both without regular captains Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni, looked two of a kind on the field before the Super Kings got to the finish line first for one simple reason — the monster in their midst had a bludgeon handy.
Matthew Hayden’s much-talked-about Mongoose bat pushed Virender Sehwag’s swashbuckling innings into the Delhi twilight and brought the Super Kings at par with the Daredevils on the points’ table.
For the most part though, it was one ‘batterer’ against another. But you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what would happen when Matthew Hayden, one of the most fearsome batsmen in international cricket till he retired (happily for other teams) a few years ago, got going. The fielders were miserable.
If you want a straight comparison, Hayden (9x4, 7x6, 93 off 43b) clobbered Delhi off more balls and sent them farther than Sehwag (10x4, 3x6, 74 off 38) did and that was really that. Hayden was destructive and Delhi were demoralised.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, the youngest IPL captain so far, followed Dhoni’s advice and stayed bindaas — with some unorthodox captaincy.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, the youngest IPL captain so far, followed Dhoni’s advice and stayed bindaas — with some unorthodox captaincy.
{{/usCountry}}The fact that he ended up with the winners’ crown (he contributed with the ball as well, seeing Chennai through with
a 34-ball 49) will probably help gloss over the fact that at
one stage, the Daredevils had raced to 102 for one by the 11th over. But then Muralitharan got rid Sehwag, caught at the boundary, going for the maximum. Before that, Dilshan’s pull was intercepted at midwicket by Raina and AB de Villiers fell in similar fashion to Joginder.
Rajat Bhatia’s lusty blows got the Daredevils closer to 200 and the 185 they finally got could have been enough, given the Daredevils’ strong attack.
But then there was that man Hayden. Delhi could do nothing much but watch as ball after ball sailed up and over.
It was delightful stuff if you weren’t a bowler or a fielder. But for the Daredevils, touted as favourites, it was also a much-needed wake-up call. It’s early days yet, but if they don’t pull themselves together soon, things could get dodgy.