Total control I would say, right from the start (apart) from 2-3 overs. Would’ve loved 10-15 runs less but I think they played really well towards the end. I feel that was a big turning point to get Maxwell and Faf out. We got three quick wickets and it helped us control the next overs, that was the real turning point. I’ve always enjoyed it (captaincy), never felt it as an additional pressure. I had experience on how to handle it, never felt any pressure, obviously had Mahi (MS Dhoni) bhai as well. I think everyone in our squad are natural strokeplayers, I think even Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) is playing really positively. Everyone knows their roles and which bowlers to take on. Role clarity really helps. Two-three things to work on, everyone batted well but I think if someone from the top 3 batted till the 15th over it would’ve been even easier.
Always when you play, you get a bit of dip after the six overs. Chennai are a very good team in the middle overs, they squeeze you with their spinners. Maybe we were about 15-20 runs short, the pitch wasn’t as bad as we played in the first 10 overs. They were always ahead in the chase, we tried to squeeze and get a couple of wickets, but in the end we didn’t have enough runs. On this pitch, it is always better to bat first. Last year, the record was very skewed towards teams that batted first. The ball started to grip a bit with our spinners. Really good for Dinesh to set up his season, especially for someone who hasn’t played a lot of cricket. Anuj has shown some great promise for us, he showed great composure for a young guy and great power through the backend.
Feel a bit rusty. Right till the last over, I was finding my form. Wasn’t coming as smoothly but that’s understandable. I was trying hard, we were in a pressure situation and I was trying to stitch a partnership with a young guy who’s been around for a while. It is a very good pitch, and looks good for batting. We are slightly under par, so we need to field well and bowl out of our skin. We lost a few wickets in the middle, that hurt us. In the back end, if we connected with a few sixes then that could make the difference. Chasing 182-183 would be a lot more tricky than 173. We need to field well, but I know we are more than capable of that. The best part is I might not be there on the field, so even better for us (laughs off).