00:00Hello, good evening everyone. Shall we start?
00:08It is usually said that whoever handles the pressure well wins the Pakistan-India contest.
00:15Do you think that Pakistan failed to handle the pressure, especially in the batting?
00:21Oh look, I'll go back a little bit. I think with the ball, obviously the ball was spinning quite a
00:27lot initially
00:29and I think the way Ishan Kishan played took the game away from us
00:35and I think to be fair to Indy, they probably got about 25 above par on that surface
00:41and then from a batting point of view, you know, we didn't really give ourselves a chance
00:44in terms of adjusting to conditions.
00:47Coach, just one question. You said it was spinning and Salman Ali Aga had a great start with the balls.
00:55So did Saemayu hold well in his first two hours.
00:59But what was the point of holding Usman Tariq back so long, the X Factor?
01:05He could have been, I mean, but Ishan was going all guns blazing.
01:09Do you think Pakistan kind of missed the trick by keeping Usman so late?
01:15Look, Usman's a really good player when players are going after him
01:19and he's got a pretty specific role for us.
01:21Could he have bowled after the power play? Yes, he could have.
01:24But I think, you know, Abra Armit has been doing a really good job for us
01:27as has Shadab Khan post-power play.
01:30You know, they both bowled and over that didn't go their way in terms of their lengths.
01:35But certainly I'd back those guys any day to do that job
01:38as they have done, you know, the last five wins.
01:42So, you know, it didn't work today.
01:45But as I said, Usman Tariq's got a very clear role
01:48and I thought he was exceptional tonight.
01:50Coach, four days back, Australia did the same mistake.
01:55You know, they bowled, they asked Zimbabwe to bet first
02:00and then failed to chest down 170 runs.
02:03And here we again made the same mistake.
02:07The pitch got slower and low.
02:09I think had we betted first, things would have been different.
02:14Look, I think if you look at the game,
02:18the ball spun half as much in the second innings.
02:21The ball skid on.
02:23So there's nothing wrong with the decision to bowl first.
02:26It was the quality of the bowling in the first six overs
02:28and also the way Ishan Kishan played in terms of took the game away from us.
02:32So certainly nothing to do with the pitch slowing down.
02:34It didn't slow down and it spun less.
02:36So you've got to look at the facts rather than, you know,
02:39the emotive accountability.
02:42I mean, the ball, they bowled nicely up front with the seam.
02:44We took some poor options, but it certainly wasn't the pitch.
02:49Mike, you have obviously, you know, seen Ishan up front in the IPL
02:57and now he's again, you know, come back in T20 cricket
03:00over the last three, four months.
03:01Just what makes it so challenging to bowl to a batter like Ishan?
03:06Well, he's fearless.
03:07He's able to score both sides of the ground.
03:11So he's not just committed to the leg side.
03:13We know he's incredibly strong there, but he can reverse.
03:16So if you've got spin, especially in the power play,
03:19it can be a challenge.
03:20But I think the fact that he's in a rear vein of form,
03:24you know, applied a lot of pressure to our spinners
03:28and probably took them away from the basics,
03:31which the pitch was actually doing a lot
03:33when we bowled nice and slow and into it.
03:35But, you know, outside of that,
03:37no one really scored better than a runner ball,
03:39you know, other than Dubé was slightly better,
03:40but it was tough.
03:43And that certainly was a standout amongst the whole match, really.
03:47Yes, please.
03:48Mike, over here.
03:51Just given the amount of build-up to this game
03:54for off-field reasons,
03:55how did you, coming into this environment,
03:57how did you as coach deal with that with the squad?
04:00What was the dialogue?
04:02Oh, look, I think we know that it's a huge event,
04:05you know, Pakistan against India.
04:07But, you know, we were, you know,
04:10we've played some good cricket.
04:11We've obviously won five games on the bounce.
04:13We're confident.
04:15And today we got outplayed.
04:17But in terms of preparation,
04:19the guys are prepared well.
04:20You know, there's a pretty disappointed dressing room
04:22in there at the moment
04:23because they know how much it means to Pakistan.
04:27And, you know, we're really disappointed
04:29we didn't play as well as we could.
04:31But we're also part of a tournament.
04:33And we know in tournament play
04:35that it's not always going to go your way.
04:36So, you know, our job is to pick ourselves up
04:38and make sure that we're very good in two or three days.
04:42Coach, whose plan was it to be bad first
04:45after winning the toss?
04:47Is it that defensive approach?
04:51He has already answered this question.
04:53Yeah, I mean, I've answered it.
04:55I mean, both sides, we're going to bowl first
04:56because the pitch was soft
04:57and the ball spun twice as much
04:59in the first innings than the second.
05:00So, you know, there was talk before
05:03about the Australia game.
05:04That was a day game.
05:05This is a night game.
05:07So, like I said, nothing to do with the toss.
05:08It was just execution.
05:11Hey, Mike.
05:12Hard luck.
05:13The margin of defeat is 61 runs,
05:16which is the highest.
05:18The previous highest was 12.
05:19So it's clearly demoralizing, as you said.
05:21The dressing room's hurting.
05:23You also said that the options
05:25the batters took today were not great.
05:28After all the preparation you've done,
05:30as a coach, how do you kind of,
05:32it's very early for you to analyze,
05:34but can you just kind of lightly expand on that,
05:37like what your feelings are
05:38when the batters kind of take those options
05:40after preparing so well?
05:43Yeah, look, it is very much
05:45when a guy's putting you under pressure,
05:47it's, you know, are you going to stick to your basics
05:49or are you going to go away from that?
05:51And I think, you know, that's going to be a real challenge
05:53because as the tournament progresses,
05:55you know, we'll be put under pressure again.
05:57And, you know, it's how we respond
05:59when we're under the pump.
06:01We're all, all these guys are international players.
06:03They're all good players.
06:04But, you know, when the pressure comes on,
06:06are they going to trust those,
06:09are they going to trust their decision-making
06:10or are they going to probably go outside that?
06:12And I think today, as I said,
06:14pressure made us go outside that.
06:16And that's something that, you know,
06:18for us to progress further in this tournament,
06:20it's something we're going to have to get better at.
06:24Sorry, I can't hear.
06:28I can't hear.
06:30Can, sorry, can at times like this
06:32in a high-stakes, high-pressure contest like this,
06:35can batters over think also,
06:37even despite the experience?
06:38I think they can.
06:39I think when you see a score
06:40and you know that it's probably a little bit above par,
06:42you almost feel like you've got to play like Superman
06:45and, you know, take the game on earlier
06:47than the conditions allow you to.
06:50And I think, you know, we lost wickets early on
06:53to shots that I'm sure, you know,
06:55on that surface, they were pretty tough.
06:58They were tough options.
06:59On a quicker surface, you know,
07:04at SESC, it might be a little bit different.
07:05So it is about adapting.
07:07And we've been really good the last few months
07:10about adapting to different conditions.
07:12Today, we probably took a little step back.
07:14Coach, two quick ones.
07:15One, the decision to bowl Salman Aga in the first over.
07:18That paved out really well.
07:20And the second one, whose decision was it?
07:22Whose call was it, firstly?
07:24And the second one, we saw that in the Asia Cup as well.
07:26If the board president is coming to meet the players
07:30one day before the match,
07:31does it add a bit of extra pressure on the players
07:33to, you know, go out and deliver?
07:34It is already a very high-pressured match.
07:36Does it add extra pressure on the players?
07:39Well, look, I'll talk about, you know, Salman Ali Aga.
07:42Firstly, we'd planned that for probably three days
07:45in terms of, you know, we knew that Siam
07:49was probably a match-up they were going to expect
07:50with their left-handers.
07:52We felt that the way Aga bowls into the wicket,
07:56you know, if the wicket was a little bit tacky,
07:58which it was, that he might get some advantage out of that.
08:01And he's been subtly practising with a brand-new ball
08:04the last couple of trainings.
08:06So it's something that, you know, we both discussed.
08:10Certainly he was keen to do it
08:11and had prepared accordingly.
08:13You know, as for the chairman, you know,
08:15the chairman's a big supporter of ours
08:17and he comes along all the time.
08:19And, you know, before games.
08:21So I don't think it certainly doesn't add extra pressure.
08:26It's, you know, that's part of his role.
08:28And that's part of, you know,
08:29our guys know that we're representing Pakistan.
08:33So, yeah.
08:35Last question.
08:36Yeah.
08:36Mike, you've been around for a long time.
08:38You've coached a lot of teams.
08:39You were in the Asia Cup as well.
08:41But this emotion of an India-Pakistan contest
08:45is probably something that's still reasonably new to you as a coach.
08:49Is there something that a coach can do
08:51to try and keep the players stable emotionally
08:54and not get carried away by the occasion?
08:56Is there something that can be done tangibly?
08:58Yeah, look, we're trying a few different things.
09:00You know, I think the main thing is just focusing on our job.
09:05And, you know, if we can limit the distractions as much as possible,
09:11I mean, the reality is it's going to be impossible
09:13to limit them completely and just focus on the job.
09:17And to be fair, when we go back in the dressing room,
09:19it wasn't necessarily the occasion.
09:22It was actually our cricketing skill that let us down today.
09:24And that's something that, you know, we can definitely work on.
09:30Not understating the importance of the game.
09:32It's just the only thing the players can do is perform
09:35and do what they do best.
09:38And tonight, as I said, it was a bit of a step back
09:40from our performance that we would expect.
09:43Thank you so much.
09:44Thank you so much.
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