The Indian Premier League is slowly getting into its grove and is throwing out some thrilling games in the last week.
On Wednesday, the Gujarat Lions won their 5th game in the current season of the IPL after their survived a blistering knock from Chris Morris to steal a one-run victory over the Delhi Daredevils side.
Chasing a total of 173 set up by the Lions, the Daredevils stuttered early in their chase as they were reduced to 57/4 in 10.4 overs.
With the required rate more than 10 runs an over, the Daredevils needed a big knock to get them back into the game and Morris provided it and almost gave his side a superlative victory.
He smashed a half century of just 17 balls, the fastest in the current season of the IPL and ended up with 82 runs of 32 balls scoring 4 boundaries and 8 sixers in the innings.
Dwayne Bravo bowled two great overs right at the end for the Lions snatched the game away from Morris who titled this innings as his best in T20 cricket and that he was not happy to be on the losing side.
“It probably was my best innings in T20 cricket.”
“It was upsetting we lost but tomorrow sun will again come up,” Morris said in an interview after the game.
He also revealed that the situation in the middle did not affect his batting and that if he is confident of hitting the ball out of the middle of the bat, he goes for it irrespective of the situation of the game.
If the ball is in my zone any day I would have gone after it even if we need five an over. It’s just the way I play my game. Luckily it worked today,” Morris added.
He also spoke about the importance of JP Duminy’s innings on the night and said that he lost his wicket at a crucial time and that if he was at the crease, the result could have been different.
JP (Duminy) played hell of a knock in terms of rotating the strike and hitting his zones. Unfortunately he got out at a vital point of the game,” Morris lamented.
The first innings did not start as well for the Daredevils with the likes of McCullum and Dwayne Smith going on the aggressive right from the outset.
The first 120 runs of the Lions were scored in just around 10 overs and just as they looked on course for a target in excess of 200, Morris and Tahir pulled it back for the Daredevils.
The South African international spoke about the plans his team had against the Lions in the first innings and revealed that it was not easy to bowl 6 good balls in an over.
He said, “We gave them a few too many loose balls but that’s the game of cricket. If you could bowl perfect six balls every time then you will be a legend.”
Morris was all praises for his skipper Zaheer Khan.
He termed the Indian veteran as a genius and said that he was unlucky to have conceded the number of runs he did on the night.
He also added that he and his team are full behind the skipper and that they back him up ‘100%’ every time on the field.
That guy (Zaheer) is a genius. The way Zak’s brain works is brilliant.”
“When Zak makes a decision I back him 100 per cent. That’s the reason he is the captain and that’s the reason he has got so many wickets,” Morris said.
The 28-year old also praised Rahul Dravid the mentor of the DD side.
He revealed that the combination of Dravid and Paddy Upton in the dressing room has helped the whole squad improve as professional cricketers.
“That’s the genius of Rahul Dravid and Paddy Upton. They give you a lot of space to grow as a person.”
“As a cricketer, they let you grow as much as possible. They give you something to do about. They are brilliant together,” he added.