Mighty avengers

May 24, 2009 is a day that will for long be talked about in cricketing circles. In one of the game’s most stunning turnarounds, the Deccan Chargers — bottom-place finishers in the first edition of the Indian Premier League — scripted the perfect end to their fairytale run in IPL 2 by beating equally unheralded Bangalore Royal Challengers by six runs at Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium.

How did this reversal come about? That was the question on lips of nearly everyone who had followed the IPL in 2008 and 2009. And with very good reason. The team that in the first year totalled just four points that not only put together a squad capable of challenging all comers, but also beating them. Few answers have been forthcoming — at least so far.

With the release recently of a set of three publications — Beyond Runs and Wickets, a coffee-table presentation, Not Just Cricket, which is a set of extremely interesting (and germane) interviews, and Chairman’s Choice, a clearer picture begins to emerge of this reversal of fortunes.

It took a whole new philosophy and vision, fresh faces in key posts and a radically-different approach to the business of putting together a team that believed completely in itself and its mission — and much of how that came about is to be found between the pages of the three publications.

Beyond Runs and Wickets is a visual archive of the Deccan Chargers’ trajectory in South Africa. Divided into 11 sections that encapsulate the philosophy driving the Chargers run, it includes chapters like “Power”, “Confidence”, “Resilience”, “Motion” and “Dignity” each of which are backed by relevant photographs and captions.

Not only does the book feature the stars — skipper Adam Gilchrist, his deputy Rohit Sharma, the irrepressible Herschelle Gibbs, all-rounds Andrew Symonds and Dwayne Bravo, strike spearhead Rudra Pratap Singh and spin whiz Pragyan Ojha, it also seeks out not so well-known names in the side, the Harmeets, Sumans and Ravi Tejas.

Moments big and small, at work and play, celebration and despair are all captured for posterity.

Not Just Cricket is the meat of the collection. In the course of a detailed interview, Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures Limited Chairman V. Shankar reveals how the vision for Deccan Chargers, version 2009, developed and was put into play in its multifarious facets over a period of time that eventually was to lead to the moment of triumph in faraway Johannesburg.

Calling himself an “avid fan” of cricket, Mr Shankar — who took up the Chargers challenge after a successful run in the corporate world and as a social worker — unfurls how the team was recast, the thinking that went into creating a new identity, his close and constant coordination with the team management in a constant stream of mails and newsletters and the spotting of key personnel — which was the start point of the 2009 campaign.

As he says, “In Adam Gilchrist I got a partner who not only shared my vision of winning but also someone who will make it a reality. ...I needed a captain who could command the respect of many heavyweights in the team. Adam Gilchrist more than measured up to this challenge as you know.”

Not Just Cricket also includes interviews with the captain, chief coach Darren Lehmann, team fan Gayatri Reddy, who ends up admitting that she turned into a “cricket groupie” by the end of IPL 2, and a match by match statistical recall of the Chargers’ run to the title.

Chairman’s Choice is a selection of emails and letters Mr Shankar exchanged with the players as a group that in essence fleshes out his interview in Not Just Cricket.