There had been a lot of talk about Team Chennai being one of the most balanced sides of the IPL when the tournament started 40 days back. The myth, though, has been shattered along the course of the tournament and even their coach Kepler Wessels believes that with the team that he had, he won’t be entirely disappointed if they didn’t make the semis.
"If at the beginning of the tournament somebody told me that we would be playing the last game for a place in the semis, I would have been more than happy. We were surely not one of the fancied teams,’’ Wessels told, as the team members tried to come to terms with the defeat against Team Jaipur on Saturday.
"Even if we don’t make the semifinals, we won’t feel that the world has to come to an end,’’ Wessels said, adding that the team has always shown the resolve to fight. "All the boys have put in their 100 per cent and if we make the last-four stage, it will be exceptional,’’ he added.
"But he didn’t want to go into the controversy whether
the owners made some mistakes while choosing the team"
But why did it go so terribly wrong after the super start? "It’s very difficult to replace players of the calibre of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Jacob Oram,’’ he said. But he didn’t want to go into the controversy whether the owners made some mistakes while choosing the team. "See, I was probably the last one to be appointed. I tried to do my job to the best of my abilities,’’ Wessels said.
He, though, conceded that the biggest problem with his team was that it didn’t click as a unit. "For a team to win consistently, all three departments have to come good. I don’t think we could do that,’’ the South African said, citing the example of the loss against Bangalore Royal Challengers.
"In that game, we bowled and fielded exceptionally well, but while batting, suddenly we got over-cautious and let go our position of strength. We should have won easy,’’ there was disappointment in the South African’s voice.
"See, I was probably the last one to be appointed.
I tried to do my job to the best of my abilities"
Now it’s time to look forward to the game against Team Hyderabad. "They have some special players in their team and will just come out in the last game all guns blazing. We’ve to ensure that we, too, take the field a relaxed lot, otherwise, it can really get tough,’’ Wessels said.
Even as the going has got tough, the former South African captain was all praise for his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the way he led the team. "For the first four games, probably it was easy for him. But even when it got tough, Dhoni didn’t lose his head and stuck to his task. The way he has led this side, I believe Dhoni will fit in well as India’s long-term captain,’’ he said.
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