AB delivers unalloyed pleasure
It is that time of the year when an IPL logjam tends to work on the nerves of the cricketers and their teams. With one or two places already sealed, only two slots really remain and the competition for those can be hectic. Nerves can be shredded by the time the last four positions are determined with those managing to slip into the eliminators happy that they are carrying the brands of their franchises also forward.
The one team out of it all and probably relieved because of that are Delhi Daredevils. They have not been in the reckoning for the top prize for a long time now. It was in the sec- ond season that they came to the semi- final when looking like a combination that was
working in unison but were blown away by an inspired Adam Gilchrist.
There were few teams in the world that could take on the Gilchrist whirlwind and come away without a battering, especially in limited- overs cricket in which he was a devastating opener.
The plight of DD only goes to show how all the most expensive talent in the world does not make a performing outfit. This has less to do with egos than with the absence of a clear leader who can make them all gel into one combative unit. Kevin Pietersen is not exactly the captain who ever promised to be the allinclusive leader of world cricket.
Star football teams like Manchester City seem to do better in getting the costliest talent to pull the wheel together. Manchester United were different in that they had a long tradition of winning set by the supreme genius among man management supremos, Alex Ferguson. If DD ever had ambitions in the direction of being a dominant IP side, they
were blown to bits long ago. They fell apart so much that they even let go of Gautam Gambhir who was an expensive pick in an auction by KKR and then Virender Sehwag too.
Maybe, the team felt the overwhelming presence of two superstars was not working for them, but then they realised that they were not getting anywhere even after letting one go. The problem with a personality like Sehwag is he is not inclined to be a full time
leader. He is incapable of sustaining a demanding role like that. And Gambhir is one of those intense men who probably needed the commitment levels KKR showed for him to blossom as a true leader of men.
In the Kings XI Punjab dugout where he is under no pressure to perform for the team from his own city, Sehwag is looking more relaxed. The Punjab team seem to have worked out the IPL formula that works has been seen to work best — pick a couple of young and keen Australians and South Africans and give them the freedom to display their talent.
Given the large stage on which to showcase themselves, cricketers from those two countries who have been bred from very early on in their careers on competitiveness respond quite splendidly. Whether they go on to sustain it to be match winners consistently is a different matter.
Down in Bengaluru too they tend to suffer from the syndrome of having the top individual talent in their dugout. That the team are still fighting to seal a last four berth and more probably out of the reckoning does no credit to the outstanding contribution of AB de
Villiers who is by far the most complete of the modern, free- striking batsmen.
The felicity with which he goes either way with all those innovative strokes shows not only the sublime form he is in but also how far he has gone in ringing in the innovations. He has made watching seaon- 7 an unalloyed pleasure. His batting goes beyond winning and losing. RCB, the fancy team that have never won the IPL must be feeling the pinch the most. They are another classic example of not being able to meld the talent into a winning combination.