Disappointing performance against the Delhi Daredevils

It's really tough to pen down my feelings after the Delhi Daredevils game.

It was a mixed sort of a day where I could be satisfied with my individual performance and extremely disappointed with the defeat.

So I would pick the disappointment of losing the game over my all-round effort as I always believe that individual effort is of not much worth if it doesn't translate into the overall success of the team.

So our home run of the three games at the D.Y. Patil stadium ends on a sour note. But without divulging much of the details of the defeat, all I have to say is that we didn't play well at the key moments of the match and that's why we didn't deserve to win the game.

Full credit goes to the Delhi Daredevils who came back strongly to record their first win in the IPL season-4.

The second week of IPL has been a week of comebacks where teams like Kochi and Delhi came back strongly to make a statement. But the statement doesn't end here, rather it comes with a footnote, "it doesn't matter what team you have, rather what matters are those 40 overs and the team that handles them well".

They were the side under pressure and were chasing a run rate of more than nine from the very first ball. Despite losing wickets at regular intervals their batsmen kept getting those small vital partnerships with the desired run rate and that was one of the key differences.

Apart from Jesse Ryder and me, none of the other members were able to deliver much from their bat. But if someone had given me 187 to defend at the start of the match I would have happily taken it.

Wake up call

After doing very well in the first two games, this was a sort of wake up call for our bowling department. But I won't be too harsh on them. You can't do much when batsmen like David Warner and Virender Sehwag are after you. Line length, field settings and strategies, all of them of are of no use if they are hitting the ball well.

But my disappointment is that even after getting rid of them we couldn't save the game. But we've got our cue and the next stop is Wankhede with Sachin Tendulkar's Mumbai Indians.

The mere thought of Wankhede makes me travel back to the time when we won the championship and I lifted the magnificent World Cup trophy there a few weeks back.

The only issue now is that some of the architects of that victory are in the rival dressing room. All I can now wish is the "god of cricket" Sachin Tendulkar to have a day off with his bat. He is scoring heavily and deservingly too. Mumbai Indians are one of the strongest sides in the league and playing against them will be the true test of our cricket and character. Apart from the league, one thing which really disturbed me was the unfortunate incident that happened to volleyball player Arunima Sinha. It was really tragic to know what happened with her. I have already offered some help to her and if I am of some help to her in the future I would be more than happy to do so.