Matthew Hayden was brought in to inspire Gujarat Titans' big hitters as their batting coach -- and the Australian Test great's counsel worked the trick as his IPL charges delivered their first victory of the season by just one run in the most extraordinary finale against Delhi Capitals.
After a couple of defeats, Hayden got the best out of his batters as captain Shubman Gill (70 off 45 balls), Jos Buttler (52 off 27) and Washington Sundar (55 off 32) all fired to help the Titans rattle up 4-210 off their 20 overs in Delhi on Wednesday.
"Haydos has been absolutely brilliant, the insight that he brings is totally different," explained another of the Titans' assistant coaches Aashish Kapoor, who like Hayden works under head coach Ashish Nehra.
"Such an experienced player that he was and a great player, he has been helping the batsmen, who all look up to him and ask him questions; he's been helpful to all the young batsmen."
But after his batters found their best - especially former England white-ball skipper Buttler who scored his first half-century in 17 innings after a tough spell that took in the T20 World Cup - Hayden had to endure a nail-biting time on the bench as he watched his side win a game they had seemed sure to lose.
South African David Miller, with a blinding knock after earlier having retired hurt with a bruised finger, defied the pain on resumption to drag Delhi to the brink of victory with a thunderous late assault that left them needing just two to win with two balls remaining.
But Miller (41no off 20, with three sixes) refused a single on the penultimate delivery that would have levelled the scores, sending back Kuldeep âYadav while confident he would finish the job off the last ball.
But he then failed to lay a bat on Prasidh Krishna's final short ball, and âthough the pair set off desperately for the equalising run, wicketkeeper Buttler nailed his direct hit to run out a diving Kuldeep.
Even then, the drama wasn't finished as the delivery was reviewed to see if it had soared over Miller's shoulder.
To Gujarat's delight and Miller's agony, it was not ruled a wide and Delhi, who had begun their knock with an inspiring 92 from captain KL Rahul, fell agonisingly short on 8-209.
On Thursday, big-money signing Cameron Green is expected to resume bowling duties for Kolkata Knight Riders against Mitch Marsh-powered Lucknow Super Giants after a tough start to their winless campaign during which he's failed to impress in purely a batting role.
