'Gilchrist said, 'he's in XI because he's lucky for us': Ex-India star reveals bizarre 'selection criteria' in IPL
The former India star, also an IPL winner, revealed a bizarre criteria for selection during one of the seasons where his side lifted the title.
The 2023 Indian Premier League begins on March 31 with the blockbuster clash between defending champions Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. The tournament was expanded to 10 teams in the previous season, with Titans and Lucknow Super Giants being the two new franchises added to the roster. In the history of the IPL, many teams were introduced and later disbanded, with new teams from either the same city or an entirely new place taking their places. One of them was Deccan Chargers – one of the original eight franchises of the tournament – that represented the city of Hyderabad, and was later replaced by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2013. (IPL 2023 Opening Ceremony Live updates)
Chargers had endured a horrific season in 2008 when they finished at the bottom of the table, but made a remarkable comeback under Adam Gilchrist's captaincy to lift the 2009 title. They defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in the title clash and one of the members of the winning team – Rudra Pratap Singh – made a rather interesting revelation about the season as he recalled the win on JioCinema.
The Chargers had fast bowler Harmeet Singh in their squad in 2009, who had remained absent for the majority of the season; however, he was included in the XI for the business end of the edition and even as he hardly remained among the wickets, the team management persisted with him in the XI. Harmeet took one wicket in five matches and RP Singh lift the lid on why Gilchrist was so keen on not dropping the right-arm pacer.
“We thought that Harmeet had variations, he bowled good. He had limited skills but gave his 100 percent on the ground, and that was important. We were winning so everyone thought it unwise to tinker with the winning combination. But even then, a few of us believed that we could try something different,” RP Singh said.
“When we talked to captain and coach about it, they straightaway refused saying, ‘he’s important for the XI'. And why was he important? ‘because he was lucky for us’… Gilchrist told me that! And I was like, ‘this is also a criteria for selection!’” RP Singh recalled, as he let out a chuckle.
Singh was the highest wicket-taker in the 2009 edition of the tournament, registering 23 dismissals to his name in 16 matches.
