During last year’s IPL, I remember an expert wondering whether Gautam Gambhir was the first T20 specialist. He, however, shouldn’t worry about that anymore as in the intervening 12 months Gautam has excelled in other forms of cricket too — Tests and ODIs.
He is aggressive and has the ability to adapt his game to the demands of every format. I have always liked Gautam, a soft-spoken guy off the field but one who can get hot under the collar — a bit like yours truly a few years ago!
It was good to see him get a 50 against Kolkata the other night. I would still say Gautam is not hitting them as well as he can, but I am sure his silken touch is not far away. The same can be said of the Delhi Daredevils. We have not played to potential, but we have managed five wins in seven games. The momentum is with us, and we seem to be doing just enough to get across the line. We are also capitalising on the fine form of Tillakaratne Dilshan. The free strokeplay of all our batsmen suggests that they have faith in each other, and a line-up that has Virender Sehwag, Gautam, David Warner, AB DeVilliers and Dilshan can only get better as the tournament progresses.
We have a tough game today. The Mumbai Indians will be hurting after their defeat on Wednesday. They have an awesome batting line-up and it’s hard to understand why they have not won more games. But that is the nature of T20 cricket: anything can happen. As Mumbai discovered, even an innocuous Rohit Sharma can take a hattrick.
{{/usCountry}}We have a tough game today. The Mumbai Indians will be hurting after their defeat on Wednesday. They have an awesome batting line-up and it’s hard to understand why they have not won more games. But that is the nature of T20 cricket: anything can happen. As Mumbai discovered, even an innocuous Rohit Sharma can take a hattrick.
{{/usCountry}}Virender’s injury is on the mend but now he is down with a virus. Thursday was a day off for the team, so it remains to be seen whether he practices today. Gameplan