A nice happy day for the MI #OneFamily with two comfortable wins at Cape Town and in Abu Dhabi. Tom Banton, one of the architects of MI Emirates’ 26-run win over the Dubai Capitals, with his 52-ball 74, was at the post-match press conference sharing his thoughts. Excerpts.. 

On acing the conditions tonight

I felt like I live here (laughs). It is a good wicket tonight, I realized that early. I also realized I had to give myself a chance which I didn’t do the other night. We just spoke about taking it deep and keep rotating the strike, and put it away when the ball is in your area. It is still T20 cricket at the end of the day and you have to take risks. Some days you put it away and some days you don’t. But a good day for MI Emirates. 

Discussions while batting with Pooran

He just said keep taking it deep. He spoke to me this morning and just said, ‘go do your thing’. I have played a lot of T20 cricket now and have a better understanding of how I want to approach my innings. 

Thoughts on the wicket on offer

The wicket was beautiful tonight. Probably one of the best I have played on in a long time. It’s been a good day and hopefully it continues. 

On the ILT20 and the different players playing

It’s great to get guys from all over the world come together. MI Emirates have had such a good team which is why they won last year. You meet new people, new culture, new experiences, you are learning all the time. The dressing room is good. I am new to it so I am a bit quiet at the moment. But everyone is very welcoming and it is a great franchise to play for. 

Whether Shai Hope’s century made the team nervous

It could have gone either way. Shai Hope played beautifully and he was unlucky to not be on the winning side. That (Fazalhaq) Farooqui over where he took two wickets and went for just one or two runs really changed the game. Everyone did really well. 

On the few missed catches on the field 

Sometimes the game fades away slightly. It is something we speak about and pride ourselves in. We are going to keep training hard and hopefully it changes.