Sehwag : "Not easy to take the pressure"

Virender Sehwag was in high spirits after his team snatched an unlikely win against Team Hyderabad on Wednesday. It was extremely relaxing for him to close in towards a semifinal berth and that was evident in what he said.

According to Sehwag, IPL is probably more demanding than international cricket and a win like this helps the team to relax quite a bit. "I feel the pressure in IPL is more than international cricket," the dashing batsman said without mincing any words.

"After a loss in the IPL, there are bound to be meetings with the franchisee owners where you have to explain where you went wrong. That is not at all easy," he explained what an international player in the IPL has to go through.

"It’s better we win more, so that we don’t have to face these meetings," the Team Delhi skipper added. Sehwag hasn’t played quite a few games due to an injury and that has helped him take a few days off. "I had been to the Sun City, relaxed a bit, and of course, bought some diamonds," he said sounding relaxed after the nerve-wracking match against Team Hyderabad.

According to Sehwag, what is helping Team Delhi win despite the tremendous pressure is their balance. "It’s all about the balance. If you see, it’s not just one person who is performing. There have been many players who have won man-of-the-match awards for us and that’s why we’re still on top," Sehwag added.

The 30-year-old however made it clear that the race for the semis was still wide open. "All the teams have talented players and the table is pretty wide open. We’re not taking anything for granted as yet," Sehwag said.

For Team Hyderabad though, it was a crushing defeat and their coach Darren Lehmann was clearly struggling to come to terms with it. "It’s an unfortunate loss. And it’s unpardonable to lose seven wickets for 12 runs," a hurt Lehmann said.

[the article was originally published at http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4531841.cms]

Laxman will play a huge role says Gilchrist

Cape Town: VVS Laxman's bat might not have done the talking so far but Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist remains unperturbed and said the Hyderabad would bounce back and play a huge role in the upcoming matches.

Laxman, who was the captain in the first edition of the Indian Premier League, scored just 10 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders and five in yesterday's match against Bangalore Challengers but Gilchrist said he was not at all concerned.

"Look I have got no concern there. His innings today showed plenty of intent. He is as keen as anyone else to make sure that he plays his role in this team. It's early days and I have got no doubt that he can play a huge part in us going forward," Gilchrist said.

The former Australian wicketkeeper also lavished praise on his deputy Rohit Sharma and pacer RP Singh, saying the two have donned the role of senior players in the team very well and are leading by example.

"Look Rohit as he did last year in the IPL what a world class player he is. He has been contributing to India in a very solid manner for a few years now. So too, RP. He has come back well from injury, RP. In the months leading up to a few tours for India he was out injured. He has come back really strongly. His work ethic at the moment is just fantastic."

"In fact, all the boys are just working really hard on extra fitness, extra training. So that's really pleasing. That's what we wanted to do, just to lift our tempo a little bit," Gilchrist said.

"So those two guys as senior players though they are young men. They have senior roles in the team. It's nice to see them leading and the other players following," he said.

Tagged as laggards last year, the Chargers have started off with a flier in the second IPL and Gilchrist said they have worked on certain areas to clear the chinks in their Armour.

"There are a number of things that we identified that we needed to fix. I won't go into great detail into them. We have worked hard in certain areas," he said after the 24-run win against Bangalore Royal Challengers yesterday. We have started with a very impressive performance in the first game. We have backed up again here probably not quite convincing. But certainly positive signs so we will just keep training to replicate those things in the next game," he added.

[the article was originally published at http://cricket.expressindia.com/news/laxman-will-play-a-huge-role-gilchrist/450424/]