Backroom boys steal show

When the Deccan Chargers battered and bruised from the inaugural edition began their IPL II campaign,not many apart from those who ply the trade in the Australian and Indian domestic...

When the Deccan Chargers battered and bruised from the inaugural edition began their IPL II campaign,not many apart from those who ply the trade in the Australian and Indian domestic cricket circles respectively knew much about Ryan Harris and Tirumalsetti Suman.

But while the Hyderabad outfit did the unthinkable by lifting the title in South Africa,the 30-year-old fast bowler from Victoria and the 26-year-old middle-order batsman from Hyderabad also made their presence felt on the big stage,playing important yet unsung roles for the champions.

While Sumanwho played 12 games last seasonstarred with his quickfire cameos in the late order; it was Harriss double-wicket burst in the very first over of the match that set up the Chargers semi-final victory against Delhi Daredevils. And with the defending champions finding themselves in a position where they have to win every match to qualify for the semi-finals this time around,it was the same pair of Suman 55 off 44 balls and Harris three for 18 who rose to the rescue to clinch a six-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings in Nagpur on Saturday.

Though Chennai stuttered throughout their innings after opting to bat,Suresh Raina looked poised to take the former finalists to a reasonable total. But it was Harris,who derailed the Super Kings innings with a late three-wicket burst,including the wicket of Raina,to limit their total to 138.

The impact that the right-arm fast bowler with a strong body-action has had ever since arriving in India wouldnt come as too much of a surprise to anyone who has seen him bowl in Australian colours over the last few months. While Harris did make his international debut against South Africa last year,it was with the Chargers that he earned a reputation of being an impact-bowler last season. And Harris has since built on it and recorded figures of 29 wickets at an average of 15.51 in 12 ODIs for Australiawhich included back-to-back five-wicket hauls in only his second and third games.

While Harris did the damage later in the innings,Pragyan Ojha provided the killer blow in the middle by completely bamboozling Chennai skipper MS Dhoni with a ball that turned and hit the off-stump. Andrew Symonds had a similar look of one-upmanship on his face as he got rid of his former Australian team mate,Michael Hussey,caught in the outfield.

Unlike Harris,Suman has remained in the oblivions of domestic cricket as part of the Hyderabad team and is nowhere near even being talked about being on the fringes. But he looked in charge right from the outset,after R Ashwin had provided Chennai with some early hope by getting the wickets of openers Adam Gilchrist and Monish Mishra. By the time he exited the scene,he had once set up a comfortable win for the Chargers.