Many in international cricket would wonder at the wisdom of having the option of playing a cricket legend lime McGrath but not utilising him. However, according to Sehwag, the team did not miss him; since Dirk Nannes had done such a fantastic job for the team. When he was put the question as to whether his team could have benefitted from McGrath’s experience in the semi final that the Daredevils lost my 6 wickets, he said that on the day, Adam Gilchrist had batted extremely well and that no one could have stopped him.

According to Sehwag, Gilchrist finished the match in the 10 overs and that his bowlers could not do anything. “We tried everything, I tried every bowler. Even I bowled in the Power Play, but I couldn’t stop him. So it’s very hard to stop Gilchrist when he is going that way,” he said. Even the strategy break did not work since by the time it came about; the asking rate was really low, putting Delhi out of the game.

Gilchrist, while expressing his surprise at this decision of the Delhi team, however admitted that the Delhi team had set the benchmark throughout the tournament and that their overseas players had served them well. “I was surprised that McGrath didn’t get an opportunity but that does not mean that they needed him to play on Friday. Considering the fact that Nannes and other overseas players have done well, it is hard to leave international guys out of the playing XI,” Gilchrist said.

Meanwhile the Indian players are already looking forward to the T20 World Cup and Sachin Tendulkar was impressed with the display of many of the youngsters though he pointed out that openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have not been as consistent as they should be. “I think individually the boys are doing well. Look at Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS (Dhoni)... In the bowling department, Zaheer was doing well before he got injured and R.P. Singh has come up in leaps and bounds. Only our opening combination of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag hasn’t fired,” Tendulkar was quoted as having said.

Tendulkar mentioned the fatigue factor as well hoping that this can be shed by the players soon. The Indians have been playing constantly for so long that this is bound to be a factor that affects tempo, however Tendulkar pointed out that the IPL also be a T20 match format was ideal preparation for the T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile the master blaster reiterated his stance of not playing in the T20 World Cup team and said that the team had done wonderfully well and that he hoped they would continue to do so.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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