Mandeep, Miller relive Mohali miracle

MOHALI: Most teams of late had found it difficult to chase down relatively small targets. Normalcy, however, was restored on Sunday when both Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab recorded their highest chases of this year.

If it was the Jaya and Viru Show in Delhi, it was the Mandy and Miller Nite at Mohali. Unlike the Delhi duo of Sehwag and Jayawardene, who are hardened pros, the KXIP pair are young and inexperienced. Thus their effort was all the more creditable.

Talking about their brilliant, unbeaten 128-run match-clinching partnership, Mandeep Singh and David Miller described the challenges and pressures they faced when they were left with a daunting task of not only emerging from the loss of early wickets, including that of skipper Adam Gilchrist and Azhar Mahmood, but also keeping up the momentum while facing a target in excess of nine runs an over.

Excerpts:

Mandeep, after your captain got out in the first over there must have been under a lot of pressure as you were chasing a huge total?

It was tough to lose Adam Gilchrist early. But the situation of the game was such that you had to play freely. When you are up against a 180-plus target, you cannot take it easy or take your time to get set. After losing two big wickets cheaply in the chase, I just had to take on the responsibility. I am happy that I managed to do that.

David, this surely must be the most thrilling match of your fledgling career?

Yes it is indeed. I have been involved in a few close games. But this one ranks right up there because the fortunes swung wildly. This has to be one of the most thrilling and exciting encounters I have been a part of.

Mandeep, what were you two discussing?

When David came in, our target was to hit one boundary an over. We had to run hard between the wickets as the field is quite big here and it was difficult to get two or three boundaries in an over. The plan was to keep the board ticking at a good rate.

Did you both back yourself when you needed 16 off the last over?

Mandeep: Our plan was set when we needed 38 runs in the last three overs. We decided we needed three big hits in every over; and if we were successful in doing that, we would cross the line. I am glad we managed that.

Miller: We did a really good job by taking the game to the last over. It was anybody's game thereafter. Had we lost, we would have lost a good game of cricket.

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Shweta Pandey

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