Published: Feb 25, 2015, 10:25 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 09, 2015, 01:20 PM (IST)
Amjad Javed, who scored 42 and took three wickets in the World Cup 2015 match for UAE against Ireland, reflect on his team’s narrow loss.
Q: You would have thought for a second or two that you had Ed Joyce bowled. Bit of a shock that the bails didn’t fall?
Amjad Javed (AJ): It’s a part of the game. Sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t.
Q: Ever happened to you before?
AJ: I’ve seen that, but never with me.
Q: Do you think that it all boiled down to keeping them down in the last 10 overs the way they played and the way you played? Do you think drop catches, missed run outs, is it due to the fact that you haven’t played such close contests?
AJ: Definitely! If you are getting some good games against Test-playing nations, good exposure, definitely. Then the boys will learn from their mistakes. In a tournament like this, a big tournament, and suddenly you’re playing in front of a big TV audience and you’re dropping. Then the morale goes down, and one can’t do much. Inshallah, next game you’ll see the energy back.
Q: Manjula bowled seven over and then he had that injury. How crucial was that, that he couldn’t bowl his entire quota of 10 overs?
AJ: He’s our main bowler. We use him in the Powerplays. He suffered cramps. The condition out there was a bit humid. It was a big setback that we couldn’t use him for his three overs.
Q: And can you just tell us about the partnership, because that was just absolutely stunning from where you were, 130 for six to take it to 280. Something about Shaiman’s innings, you were the closest and you were the one on the other side. How was the innings from your end?
AJ: He is one of the best players we have on our team. On his day he can really score quick runs. I just told him that we have to play our natural game. It doesn’t matter if we have lost six wickets or seven wickets, we have to play our natural game, and once we start the counterattack we were making the runs. We just kept going.
Q: In that partnership there was the couple of overs there from Kevin O’Brien towards the end of the innings where Shaiman was moving across the crease and Kevin was trying to bowl wide. Did you feel in that moment that Ireland were struggling to cope a little bit with the partnership?
AJ: Definitely. If you scored the last 10 overs you score 100 runs, definitely bowled wide. He is bowling at you and you are just moving away from the crease on the off side. He doesn’t have like ‑‑ a bowler like Kevin O’Brien, he doesn’t have that much pace. He can’t bowl 150 plus. He’s just 120, 130, so Shaiman, he was set and he was just trying to take runs.
Q: Just a little bit more about Shaiman. He has a reputation for being able to hit out. Do you think his confidence is going up and up?
AJ: Definitely. He’s very dangerous. Once he starts scoring, he scores big.
Q: Could I ask you just in regards to the next World Cup being reduced to 10 teams, how do you feel about that? Is it pretty frustrating?
AJ: I think ICC should factor the performance of the associates in this tournament and then decide whatever they want to. But I think they have to introduce more teams in the World Cup. The teams are not coming straightaway from the World Cup, they are going through a process and then they are qualifying for the tournament. So I think they should increase the teams.
Q: Were you surprised that Ireland bowled first? What were you going to do if you had won the toss?
AJ: No, I think we were supposed to bat first only, so it’s not a surprise. The wicket was very good for batting.
Q: You seemed to get more movement in the second innings under the lights. Is that right?
AJ: I think it helped us. We took all the wickets, but some run out chances went abegging.
Courtesy: ICC
