Much before hitting his "best ever Twenty20 knock" to power Deccan Chargers into the final of the Indian Premier League, Adam Gilchrist knew his side would win by six wickets. In fact, he had written this prediction on a piece of paper on the morning of the semi-finals.
"I had a feeling in the morning that we would win by six wickets. I always back my instincts, so I just took out a paper and wrote this. I am quite amazed that it came true," Gilchrist, who smashed a hurricane 35-ball 85 to single-handedly take the match away from Delhi Daredevils on Friday, told the IPL's official website.
"It is what invokes in us an urge to do better on the field. The beauty is that it makes the performance, whatever that may be, rewarding," the Australian added.
Deccan Chargers finished at the bottom of the table last season but Gilchrist turned it around brilliantly for them this year, leading from the front with some scintillating batting.
The swashbuckling wicketkeeper batsman said the dramatic turnaround of fortunes was possible because the side learnt from the mistakes they committed last season.
"We have learnt a lot from our mistakes last year and this year we had decided to back our skills," he said.
He said his blazing knock against Delhi is his best ever in Twenty20 cricket.
"Tonight this was the most important knock of my life. I think I just pulled it out in a big match situation not only in the World Cup [2007] final but also here. Back then I knew I had Punter [Ricky Ponting], Symo [Andrew Symonds] and others to follow, but today since we were chasing, I wanted to finish it off. In T20s, it is by far my best knock," he said.
Gilchrist described Deccan Chargers' performance this year as the "journey of a lifetime".
"We have learnt that it is possible to improve our potential. The winners also learn. We have now learnt to explore what is more humanly possible for us as a team. It has been a journey of a lifetime for most of us," he said.
"I think 'competition' does not mean an attempt to beat others. It merely means 'to do better' than what one is already doing," he added.
