The big question: Who will win the IPL?

BIG MONEY: MS Dhoni was the highest auctioned player of the IPL at Rs 6 crore.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

“Definitely it was pretty tough going for us in the last couple of weeks. The players held their nerves very well. Clearly we are very relieved,” Wessels says.

When Kalra asks how does he explain the start and stop campaign of Chennai, Wessels replies, “We had a very strong team for first four matches. That was our very best combination that we could put out. We weren't surprised that we did well but we knew that after that we always had to regroup, find different combinations that could work for us. It’s been tough but players have done really well. They have responded to the challenge superbly and to get as far as they have so far has been a terrific effort.”

He also says the team was not shocked after Hayden and Hussey left.

“It didn't (shock us). We always knew that was going to happen. It was real pleasure to have them for the first four matches. Their input was tremendous. They really tried had and helped us get into this position that we are in now. As I said we knew that it was coming. We knew that we had to readjust and fortunately we were able to do that,” Wessels says.

Srikkanth once again points out that Chennai’s batting is their trump card.

“Our batting is reasonably well set. If somebody doesn't score, there is some other guy who puts up his hand and scores. The team is not depended on one or two person,” he says.

Wessels also doesn’t agree that Chennai’s bowling department has been under performing.

“I think lately bowling has been good. It was superb in the match against Bangalore that we lost. It was difficult in the next match against Rajasthan for everybody because that pitch was a really good pitch to bat on. In our last match against Deccan Chargers the bowlers did well. So I think they have come through strongly. Makhaya Ntini has bowled well. The whole bowling unit has functioned better of late than some other stage of the tournament. So we have no complaints there,” Wessels reasons.

“I don't think he has under performed. He has a different role. He is normally an attacking spinner and he does bowl a lot of overs for Sri Lanka. He does get a lot of wickets, which is his main focus. But for us he had to come on and then try to contain. He hasn't been able to bowl with as much freedom as he normally would. Then of course some of the boundaries have been very small. So that’s made it very difficult for most of the spinners,” Wessels says about Muralitharan.