Thursday, October 22, 2009

“IPL teams had a major disadvantage


All the pre-tournament talk of how the three IPL teams would exploit home conditions in the Airtel Champions League Twenty20 fell flat on its face within a week.

While the Deccan Chargers crashed out in the league stages, the Delhi Daredevils and the Royal Challengers Bangalore just made up the numbers in the Super Eights, without any realistic chance of going through to the last four.

However, Gibbs pointed out that the IPL sides were always going to be up against it.

"They had a major disadvantage. I know everybody kept talking about how these three teams would enjoy local conditions and home support but all that didn't matter because they play together a lot less than the other teams.

These guys just come together for six weeks once a year while the other teams in the tournament play through the season and gel well as mates."

The IPL teams have as many as four international players in their playing eleven and some of the others do not even belong to the city he represents.

That is a far cry from the strong Australian, South African and the West Indian domestic sides, who have been together for years and played in all formats.
Gibbs, one of the most prolific opening batsmen in modern day cricket, also plays for the Deccan Chargers and said he was "disappointed" to not see them progress beyond the group stages.

"It would have been fun to play against them. The Chargers are a tough side and the Cobras would have been up for a good challenge."

Not for nothing do they say that cricket is all about momentum and team spirit. Gibbs refused to believe that the IPL teams were perhaps just not as good as the others in the fray. They need to come together more often.

How much of that would be possible is anybody's guess. A packed international calendar and a host of foreign stars do not augur too well.

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