Defeat means as much to me this season: Gilchrist

13th May 2008

Standing in for the injured captain VVS Laxman, Adam Gilchrist is not a very proud man as his team is at the fringe of facing relegation from the first ever DLF Indian Premier League (IPL).

However, the former Australian glovesman takes it in his stride and blames his team's lack of consistency for their bad show in the tournament.

Speaking at a post-match press conference after their recent loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders, Gilchrist accepted the fact that it going to be very hard for his team to bounce back from the plight they have set themselves in.

But he exhibited a this-is-not-the-end-of-the-world attitude when he remarked, "Well, we've got to have some fun now."

Although it was evident he did not take his team's seventh loss in the IPL lightly when he added, "Look the reality is that it's disappointing. We can't change anything. We've just got to see what we can do to improve, what we can learn, what we can take forward and what we can salvage for the rest of the tournament."

He said that he and his team took full responsibility for their losses and that they were all keen to do well this year. But added that the IPL was "not only about this year" and that one should also see the broader scheme of things.

The master batsman who averaged a near-50 for Australia in Test matches admitted that it was hard to enjoy your cricket when you continually end up on the losing team.

He said that his side was not doing the basic things right but was quick to correct that by saying, "We're doing basic things well 75% of the game but not 100% of the match. Be it with bat or ball over the course of the tournament in nine games, we just haven't been consistent enough."

He was then questioned by one of the media folks as to how he was taking to losing so often as being in the Australian team it was not something he was used to.

‘Gilly' accepted that losing so many matches was not something he was used to but was quick to defend his team by saying that he is no more playing for Australia and that his team now was the Deccan Chargers and that defeat means as much to him as it does to any player in his side.

"Hopefully we can sit down again, analyse and move forward. We've got to sit down and find out reasons," said the flashy southpaw.

He said that henceforth, they cannot be thinking of winning all their five games in the League but they now have to re-group and take things one game at a time. Their next opponents are the Delhi Daredevils and Gilchrist expressed his desire to pull off a few more wins and show his team that they still have "incentive to have an impact on the competition."

The Deccan Chargers next face the Delhi Daredevils on May 15 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium at Delhi.