It was a masterclass in defending a low total that the MI Emirates put up here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday (December 17). The chief architect of the same, Rashid Khan, who spun his web with figures of 2/14 in his four overs, spoke to the media in the post-match press conference. Excerpts.. 

Thoughts on the way the match panned out

It was a great effort. We had a good start with the bat but it was a bit here and there in the middle overs. Their spinners bowled well. Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman) bowled well. We were ten run short but the wicket wasn’t easy. We knew it would get difficult once spin came on as long as we bowled in good areas. We knew their mindset would be to chase quickly, and that is where we could get wickets as well while putting extra pressure on them. Overall great team effort, but the entire credit would go to the way we fielded and supported the bowlers. 

On the absence of dew 

There wasn’t any dew in the first innings as well. It was a lesser advantage and it brought out good cricket where the better team won. I feel sometimes the match depends on the toss, where you win the toss and win the match. But even with the dew, you can manage and play good cricket. If you keep thinking about the dew, there is no point of our efforts and our practice. We should just trust our practice.

On the impact of such close games on the fans 

Even fans like to watch competitive cricket. This happens when the conditions are the same for both teams and it doesn’t depend on the toss. When it comes down to skill, the matches get very interesting. We got a lot of energy from this match. This is the last leg of the tournament with this being the sixth game. We lost a game when we needed 20 runs off 18 balls. That’s the thing in T20s, you never lose hope and you try your best to do well for your team. 

Whether the game is skewed towards batters 

I think you could call it a batsman’s game. But if you bowl well in good areas, you will get results. Sometimes you get into a negative mindset where you start thinking of this as a batsman’s game and you accept defeat early itself. As long as you are well prepared and you have options to bowl, you can manage to stop batters from scoring runs.