'I wont make any predictions'

April 22, 2010 01:05 am | Updated 02:29 am IST - Mumbai:

Adam Gilchrist, who has not been scoring heavily, is banking on one of his temamates for a big score. Photo: K.R. DEEPAK

Adam Gilchrist, who has not been scoring heavily, is banking on one of his temamates for a big score. Photo: K.R. DEEPAK

Adam Gilchrist has led Deccan Chargers in 38 IPL matches, won 18 and in DLF-IPL III he has won eight of the fourteen matches.

“I would love to be part of the Deccan Chargers next year. I won't make any predictions. I don't know what inspired me to write about Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha (at 3 a.m. before the final in South Africa last year) but I can tell you I won't tempt fate too much,” he said on the eve of the second semifinal against Chennai Super Kings here on Thursday.

Excerpts from the media conference:

Mood in the Chargers' camp

Excellent, very positive and vibrant. T20 has changed the whole landscape of cricket there is no doubt about that. Obviously there's a lot of revenue being raised or turned over and passed. There's a microscope on that. It will be interesting what the outcome of that is. It's changed the face a little bit and changed the direction that players go. Whether it's a good thing or detrimental, it's hard to say; it's a crystal ball gaze at the moment; I think there are a lot of positives both about IPL and T20 cricket in the long run, as long as it is well administered and well run.

Money in IPL

To be honest everyone in every walk of life needs something to survive and needs money. It's there and it's very real. It's a lure. I cannot speak for every team, but I don't see any financial reason to win. The desire is purely coming from within, the memories of last year from where we came from; they are the reasons I'm playing. What charged me and what keeps me coming back is that nice little incentive of that winning feeling. To set a task or a big goal it's a very unique feeling with such a big group of people, so there's no better feeling that comes up. So that's the incentive for us.

Semifinal prospects

All the semifinalists have a chance of winning, it's as simple as that. Chennai is one of the strongest squads in the tournament. You look at their bench who are not playing and you realise how good the team is. We've been fortunate to get a couple of good results against them; it's a nice positive feeling, but it doesn't count for much.

His and Hayden's form

Obviously I hope it does for me and not for him with due respect to him. He's a good mate, but I'm not losing sleep over my form; it's about leading the team and giving the franchise a chance of winning the tournament. It's good that we won those games otherwise we wouldn't have the chance to play here. The conditions are new here. We have to watch Wednesday's game and get a bit of feeling about how the wicket is going to play. It's at short notice we are here for the semifinals, though we knew about the final.

It's a new game. We are both none for none (0-0), it's not like we start 50 runs ahead because we won two games prior to this. Anything is possible. I don't subscribe to the myth that you have to lose a game eventually. After five losses in a row we reached a point where we knew we could not afford to lose another game. It freed us up, the game is about quality. So it's business as usual for us.

Scoring runs in the semifinals

I've said all along that I would love to score more runs, but not everyone scores runs all the time. I've had two really good years. It was working this year till the first few games. I've got the team's interest when I've gone to bat which is what I've done always in my career and I'll continue to do that. But if I don't I'm backing one of my teammates to chip in and do it, see where else I can contribute. That's what it's all about, not about who gets the credit whether we can stand up as individuals and have that successful feeling together.

Mongoose bat

It's a unique bat. Matty (Hayden) started on fire and since then the focus has gone off the mongoose a little bit.

On Harmeet Singh

He's been very impressive in the last three years. He contributed last year and this year he's been great. Everyone's done something at some time, a 20 or 30, a bowling spell. Harmeet has developed and that gives us much enjoyment and being part of that development is what's inspiring me. He can take all the credit for the development for that. It's definitely something that he's thought about and worked on. He's worked on change of pace and has started to master it. He's very accurate with it.

On Ojha

He's our top wicket-taker. Personally I am surprised, but it's not my job to pick the Indian cricket team or tell the selectors.

Coaching

I don't think there is anything like that. We will sit down and discuss with the franchisee at the end of the tournament and discuss what worked and what didn't and where we would like to go.

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