00:00We have with us Canadian captain Saad Bin Zafar. Please raise your hand if you
00:05have a question and we'll get a mic to you.
00:12Saad, Peter Nellipen with Dream Cricket. When Nikhil Dutta got hit for the 19
00:19runs in that ninth over, it seems like you were struggling for a fifth bowling
00:24option. You brought in Pargat Singh and that didn't work either. How did him
00:30getting knocked out of the attack affect your bowling plans and your overall
00:34strategy as the rest of the chase unfolded? Well definitely Nikhil was our
00:39fifth bowler and Pargat was our sixth bowler basically. And when Nikhil that
00:46first over went for runs, I was left with no other options but Pargat Singh. So
00:52those were the two offies we had in our squad. We knew US has a couple of lefties
00:58in their squad that's why we we opted to go for an off spinner rather than a leg
01:03spinner. But it wasn't Nikhil's day today and he didn't bowl well and I
01:11think but that's the calculated risk we had taken before for picking him.
01:19Saad, commiserations 194 at the halfway mark and silenced what was a pretty
01:26boisterous crowd for the most part of the night. What was your feeling of that
01:31first inning score here at Grand Prairie tonight? I think we put up a really good
01:36total. 194 was a very, I know the wicket was playing really good, but 194 was a
01:41really good total considering it to be a World Cup game and a high-pressure game.
01:45It's not easy to chase, but we started off really well as a bowling unit. The
01:52first power play was pretty amazing, but the way Aaron Jones started hitting
01:58along with Andreas Coase, I think they they took us out of the game basically.
02:04Hi Saad, this is Dr. Adnan from N6 TV Canada. First of all, commiserations.
02:10Wonderful total on the board. Canadians all around the border feels very
02:14dejected as you know them. So what do you think Saad, what was the turning point
02:19that catch if that would not have been a no-ball? Do you think you were
02:24still in the, because Canada was very much into the game when 40 for 2 or 44
02:28for 2, but suddenly things went wrong after that catch. Do you think any plans
02:32to stop Jones if that catch would have been taken? I mean that would not have
02:36been a no-ball? Yeah, definitely. I think we were still in the game and we just
02:40needed to break a partnership because they were going well, but then it's not
02:44easy for a new batsman to come in and keep up with the pace. So I think if that
02:48was not a no-ball, things might have been different. But yeah, definitely. I think
02:54we didn't bowl well. We gave a lot of extras, especially three to four no-balls
02:59in a T20 game is a big no-no and that's also one of the reasons of us losing,
03:03ending up on the losing side.
03:11Obviously many commiserations, but there were some positive, there were some good
03:15performances tonight and up until that famous 9th over, you were the better
03:20side. So my question is, how do you balance making sure those who perform
03:25well, focusing on that, congratulating them, keeping their morale up with dealing
03:30with lesbians? There were too many, as you said, too many extras, which at any
03:34level of the game you would hate to see. How do you as a squad balance focusing
03:39on the things you can correct, but without bringing morale down for those
03:43who did actually play well tonight? Well, definitely, you know, ups and
03:48downs happen in cricket. Not everybody has good days. People go
03:54through good days and bad days. That does not make them any bad cricketers. So for
04:00me as a captain, I make sure everybody's in positive headspace and everybody
04:03stays positive because we still have a lot of cricket to play. And again, we are
04:07here, this is our first World Cup, so there's a lot of pressure and a lot of
04:11learning as well at the same time. So I just want people to give their best and
04:15enjoy and, you know, have a good experience at the same time.
04:22So I just want to go back to the power play. In modern cricket, modern
04:27T20 anyway, there's often reluctance for captains to bowl overs more than two
04:33overs consecutively because they don't want batters to get settled against them,
04:37get into a rhythm. Jeremy Gordon, over his career, has really been a rhythm
04:41bowler. When he's locked in, he's very difficult to get away, which we saw in
04:44the first two overs. When he's out of rhythm, he can be very wild. Because of
04:48his action, where his arm angle is, he's prone to bowling like sidewides. And
04:53everybody saw what happened in that 14th over when he came back in. So I just
04:57wanted to ask how much thought and consideration, if any, was given to
05:03keeping him on during the power play and having him bowl at least a third over to
05:09take advantage of that sequence when he was in rhythm, rather than holding it
05:12over or two overs back and potentially having things go awry if he isn't able
05:18to continue his rhythm after an extended break.
05:24Well, we were playing with three fast bowlers, so I thought, like, we still have to slide in the
05:31spinners overs in between. It was a thought in the back of my mind, but I
05:36backed myself for bowling an over in the power play. And I think we did
05:42well in the power play overall, but I was backing Jeremy to come back and then
05:46finish the things for us. That's his role as well, bowl two to three overs up
05:51in the initial innings and then finish it off for us at the end,
05:56in the death overs as well. So yeah, those are the things. In hindsight, you
06:01can say that I could have probably given him one more over in the
06:04power play, but I still back him to come in and bowl better than what he
06:10did in his third over, basically.
06:13Any other questions?
06:17Hi, Saad. This is Smith Patel from Crick Buzz. You play a lot of cricket in the US. You know a lot of
06:24these American players as well, their game as well. Two questions. Were you
06:30surprised with the way Aaron Jones batted today? And the second question is,
06:35is this the best innings you've seen in flesh?
06:40Well, yeah. I know Aaron Jones is capable of playing this kind of innings, but I was not expecting him to, like, play
06:51today at this stage and in pressure situations, especially at the time when
06:54he walked in. They were about, like, 40 in seven overs for two. So I think he
07:02played an exceptional inning. And I think, for me personally, this is the best
07:07inning I've seen him play, actually.
07:21No, I've seen Ghos played a lot of good innings in a lot of tournaments. It's one
07:27of the best ones, but I've seen good ones, like, better than that, yes.
07:34Any other questions? Thank you.
07:39Sorry, just what's your overall mentality now? I mean, effectively, a lot of people are looking at
07:46this as almost a knockout match in terms of USA and Canada. Whoever loses
07:50this game is gonna have an uphill battle to try and qualify for the Super 8s, and
07:53whoever won was probably gonna have the most realistic chance to advance if they
07:58can upset Ireland and then one of either Pakistan or India. So what is your
08:02mentality now, having lost this game, in terms of your realistic outlook for the
08:05Super 8 and how you're going to approach the rest of the group stage?
08:08Yeah, definitely. You know, like, we were eyeing to win this game. It didn't happen, but we can't
08:13change anything that that has already happened. But, like, going forward, we just
08:17want to play positive cricket. We have beaten Ireland in the past, so it's, like,
08:24it's just another game. We just want to play to our potential, learn from the
08:28mistakes we did in today's game, and then just come back strong and just take one
08:32game at a time and see where it takes us. Are there any other questions? Thank you.
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