The decision to leave out paceman Morne Morkel in the IPL Qualifier-II raised a lot of eyebrows but Delhi Daredevils head coach Eric Simmons defended the strategy, saying it was aimed at finding the “right balance” in the side.
Simmons said Andre Russell was an automatic choice in place of injured all-rounder Irfan Pathan and they needed a second spinner against the Chennai batting line-up, so little known Sunny Gupta was chosen.
Delhi crashed out of the IPL-V as they conceded a mammoth 222 runs and went on to suffer a humiliating 86-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings, on Friday night.
“When we do not have the services of Irfan Pathan, we needed to find balance. The question is not about Morne Morkel. Russell bowled well giving away 29 runs, took a catch and scored 16 runs. He made a decent contribution. So, you could measure from that perspective. Russell was the direct replacement for Irfan Pathan,” Simmons said at the post-match press conference.
“That is the decision we made and took our chance. Sunny was a risk. Obviously, Chennai are a very balanced side with four left-handers and four right-handers in the top eight and it makes very difficult. We had to take a decision to play someone who turns the ball away,” he added.
Simmons said they could have won the match had they restricted Chennai to under-200.
“Chennai has been very good in chasing. Murali Vijay played an incredible innings. If we could have restricted them to 180 or so, we could get it and then things works. It is difficult to sit in a situation like this and completely judge in hindsight. Someone plays a great innings and we paid the price,” he said.
The coach also defended skipper Virender Sehwag coming at number three, instead of opening the innings.
“The batting line of Warner and Viru had not worked well. It was a better option to have since we want somebody to support David Warner. Mahela plays well and comes up with good scores if he comes out,” he said.
Delhi had dominated the league stage but yet again failed in the crunch matches. Simmons said it was unfortunate but are keen to take corrective measures.
“In 2009 too we dominated the league system. I was not there then. I cannot say. I just think we need to learn as a unit to play smart cricket in such situations. Lot of things had been spoken about how we are different in the bowling and batting. I think we have young players and they are growing up. We had lot of dot balls but we gave more boundaries. We need to find balances in these aspects. I must say that we did not choke but we were not firing in the last two games.”
Overall, Simmons looked satisfied with his side’s performance in the fifth edition of the league.
“I must say that we showed what we can do. I think that there are one or two tweaks that we need to make and then we will be a team to winning in all conditions. That is the next choice. We can arrive at a ground and whatever the opposition give us in terms of conditions we got to put up right combinations to be successful,” he said.
Simmons was all praise for Chennai, who are peaking at the right time in the competition.
On Kolkata and Chennai final?
“Chennai is a very balanced side and they sneaked into the play off with a mission. They are a tough team balanced in both in the bowling and batting line up. They have eight batsmen who can rotate the strike well. They struggled through the league system but come good at the business end, which is the sign of champions and that is what they are,” he said.
Keywords: IPL-V, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Morne Morkel, Eric Simmons
Cool Mind KKR, Your Life's Ever Seen Cricket Played in Today & You Win IT...
Left out the purple cap holder for a never before heard spinner ?? Bullshit!! we ain't fools!
Hmmm.....are we all missing the big elephant in the room? Kevin Pietersen hauled
their behinds off the fire multiple times...it was a foregone conclusion that DD would fail withour Pietersen. Time to smell the coffee DD fans!!
All the teams and players in this IPL either consciously or
unconsciously play with a single mission of making Chennai Super Kings
to win the the finals for the third time in succession. For the finals
even Gautam Gambhir may sit out to ensure Dhoni's men winning the title
easily. Nobody will buy the reasons given for not playing Morne Morkel
for the crucial game. Delhi Daredevils will get similar chance in the
next year for the favour they have done for the Super Kings. Long Live
IPL.
the match played between d.d and csk is that all people r thinking that the match as been fixed between both the teams.fielding of delhi was worst yestday simply they have left the catchs and batting lineup is not and change in team members.by thinking of all these things all fans came to know that match was fixd.how can in website they can write csk is playing final with kkr. before 5days earlier......
Here's some basic cricket tips for the Delhi Daredevils. 1) A team loses if the opposition takes wickets 2) For that the opposition needs to field their best bowlers, esp when it's a do-or-die situation 3) Morne Morkel is the best bowler not just of Delhi but of the entire IPL this year. You do the rest of the math buddies, while I go speculating about how this Morne-dropping move is due to fixing...lol
Stink of Match Fixing?
“The batting line of Warner and Viru had not worked well. It was a
better option to have since we want somebody to support David Warner.
Mahela plays well and comes up with good scores if he comes out" --
This is "THE" most hilarious comment that any coach can make... It is
so pathetic on DD's part!!! People are not fools to believe that Viru and Warner missed the right combination and then dropped out the leading wicket taker of the tournament to find balance to the team on the most crucial, do-or-die match of the season. All these seem so obviously pre-meditated! Lets wait and watch the finals....
Sunny Gupta has not played any match in the IPL-5, whereas shahbaz nadeem has played and performed in bits and pieces, then why little known sunny for the big match??. Delhi from the outset has thrown the match, the way incidents happening, first Banglore losing the hyd, to accomadate place for chennai, and then Delhi resting its known performers to accomadate chennai for final, definetely raises suspicion on the validity of IPL matches.
Sehwag should take major part of the blame for the defeat to Chennai Kings, firstly for his senseless decsion to leave out the incisive$ in form Morkel,specially knowing the weakness of Badrinath, Raina &M.Vijay against sheer pace ,then by not comming to open the innings ,.During the match he dropped a crucial catch as well.
It is sad to see bad decisions being defended. No cricketing brain can afford to leave out the highest wicket taker in the tournament. Out of the 4 International players, he was the person in most form and should have been the first priority. Irfan Pathan is not such a star that because of him you had to leave out Morkel. DD, you are an inch away from being the South Africa of IPL.
Well, it was not due to right balance issues, it was because mr.
srinivasan wanted chennai to win IPL 3rd time..first they decided
between bangalore and Hyd match, then mumbai and then asked delhi to
change team. Cant imagine Warner fielding so poorly in the match. Singh
was chosen instead of other spinner
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