News
18
Oct 12
07:10pm IST
CLT20 Staff in Durban
It’s a big match against Auckland: Jayawardene
DD captain hopes for 4 points from Aces game
Having got off to a winning start, the Delhi Daredevils will be playing their second game of the Karbonn Champions League Twenty20 2012 against the Auckland Aces at the Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town on October 18. They are coming in to the game post a few days break since their opening game on October 13. But the Daredevils have been hitting the nets regularly and training hard in the meanwhile as they hope to take the winning momentum forward.
While the Daredevils had a few days off, the points table has been taking shape and as they get back into action they have a clearer picture of what is needed of them. When asked if that helps a team while going into the match, skipper Mahela Jayawardene said, “It does help to certain extent but it is not going to influence the way we want to go about it too much, because we try and control things, which are in our control, and that is to make sure that we qualify for the semi-finals. So how the other teams play and how they go about is not a big concern for us. We just try and make sure our first goal is to get to that semi-final. To do that we need to make sure we win matches and try and control that.”
Ahead of their practice session today, the Jayawardene added, “It’s been good. It has been an unusual gap for us. We just needed to make sure that we had a couple of good practice sessions, boys had a bit of free time for as them as well. For some guys it is good because, they had played a lot of cricket so it s bit of a breathing space. But once we start [playing] we know that we have three back-to-back matches. So, the focus has been to make sure that we prepare ourselves. It is a big game for us tomorrow [against the Auckland Aces]. We can’t take anything for granted. We just need to make sure that the things we did right against Kolkata [Knight Riders] and just keep improving and keep the momentum going forward.
One of the things that went in favour of DD was their pace attack. So, will going they be fielding a full pace attack again? Their captain replied, “Depends on the wicket. Once they prepare it we will have a look at it in the afternoon and go back to the drawing board and see what is the best combination that we can come up with. We have a lot of options at our disposal so we will see the opposition, see what’s going to be the best team that we could put out on the park tomorrow.”
“What is important is that we go out and perform what we do day in and day out. So, that’s what we tell the guys, keep it simple, focus on our strengths and try and execute a good game plan. And results will take care of themselves. We need to focus; we are not going to win matches by just turning up, we need to keep performing, we have to be consistent.”
When asked about his experience of leading the Daredevils in CLT20, Jayawardene said, “It feels very good; another challenge for me obviously. A great side, a great group of players, we are playing some really good cricket we had a good IPL under Viru [Virender Sehwag]. We just need to continue that and keep improving, so that’s a challenge for us.”
While the Daredevils had a few days off, the points table has been taking shape and as they get back into action they have a clearer picture of what is needed of them. When asked if that helps a team while going into the match, skipper Mahela Jayawardene said, “It does help to certain extent but it is not going to influence the way we want to go about it too much, because we try and control things, which are in our control, and that is to make sure that we qualify for the semi-finals. So how the other teams play and how they go about is not a big concern for us. We just try and make sure our first goal is to get to that semi-final. To do that we need to make sure we win matches and try and control that.”
Ahead of their practice session today, the Jayawardene added, “It’s been good. It has been an unusual gap for us. We just needed to make sure that we had a couple of good practice sessions, boys had a bit of free time for as them as well. For some guys it is good because, they had played a lot of cricket so it s bit of a breathing space. But once we start [playing] we know that we have three back-to-back matches. So, the focus has been to make sure that we prepare ourselves. It is a big game for us tomorrow [against the Auckland Aces]. We can’t take anything for granted. We just need to make sure that the things we did right against Kolkata [Knight Riders] and just keep improving and keep the momentum going forward.
One of the things that went in favour of DD was their pace attack. So, will going they be fielding a full pace attack again? Their captain replied, “Depends on the wicket. Once they prepare it we will have a look at it in the afternoon and go back to the drawing board and see what is the best combination that we can come up with. We have a lot of options at our disposal so we will see the opposition, see what’s going to be the best team that we could put out on the park tomorrow.”
“What is important is that we go out and perform what we do day in and day out. So, that’s what we tell the guys, keep it simple, focus on our strengths and try and execute a good game plan. And results will take care of themselves. We need to focus; we are not going to win matches by just turning up, we need to keep performing, we have to be consistent.”
When asked about his experience of leading the Daredevils in CLT20, Jayawardene said, “It feels very good; another challenge for me obviously. A great side, a great group of players, we are playing some really good cricket we had a good IPL under Viru [Virender Sehwag]. We just need to continue that and keep improving, so that’s a challenge for us.”
