Moody blames it on Yuvraj's lack of fitness

Moody attributed his side’s bottom finish in the IPL III to injury to key bowlers like Brett Lee and lack of full fitness of Yuvraj.

“Most of our main bowlers including Brett Lee are injured. The main player of the team Yuvraj Singh also has not recovered fully from wrist injury,” said Moody after his side’s six-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings in their last league match here.

“A new team after the fresh auction will bring back the reputation of Kings XI Punjab,” he added. He said his players committed some silly mistakes in every important game which cost the side dear.

“We lost both the games at Dharamsala after scoring huge runs. It is disappointing,” said the Australian.

“A number of players are out of form but the spinners have done a terrific job in the tournament,” he added.

Moody reasoned that Yuvraj’s ordinary form in this IPL might be due to the pressure of high expectations from the fans. “After the six sixes in the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup, a mental pressure has been built up on Yuvraj. The high expectations of the public might have affected his performance.”

Moody denied that there was any rift among players in the side because of the poor performance in the tournament.

Need to be consistent
The clinical bowling performance against Delhi Daredevils notwithstanding, Deccan Chargers paceman Ryan Harris feels his side’s bowlers have to be more consistent if they want to defend their IPL title.

“I think, bowling is the area where we can still improve. We have to put up better performance in the last few overs of the innings which is always crucial in a Twenty20 game,” said Harris.

The Australian, however, was happy with the performance of the batting department of his team.

“We have batted well in the last two matches. Our team have a strong batting line-up and I am confident that it will perform in the coming matches as well,” he said at the sidelines of a promotional programme here on Monday.

“And our fielding has improved a lot in the last few matches. This is a crucial front and we have worked hard to make it better,” the 30-year-old said.

Harris is not ready to speak about any team strategy. “We have not started thinking about the semifinal match yet. Let’s first arrive in Mumbai and then will start the planning,” said Harris, when asked what would be their strategy in the knock-out stage of the tournament.

But the Queenslander was very confident about defending the title, which they won in South Africa last year. “We have now won five matches in a row and our team has captured the rhythm. We have the momentum and I am very confident that we will bag the title again. It will be an excellent feeling to win the honour twice,” he said.

Harris also praised Deccan captain Adam Gilchrist and said, “He is a good sharp captain. it is nice to play under him.”

Speaking about the IPL III experience, Harris said, “I am enjoying the atmosphere, the big crowds at the venues and also the competition in the League.”