Mumbai, Dec 9: After opting to bowl first at the Wankhede Stadium against Punjab, the Mumbai bowlers worked hard through the day to create opportunities for breakthroughs. But lapses in the field cost the home team as the Punjab batsmen made the most of the lives given to him. Mandeep Singh remained unbeaten on 102, after surviving a few chances later in his innings.
While speaking to the press after stumps on Day 1, Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni reflected on the day’s play.
Excerpts from his press interaction:
On the dropped catches
Yes, we did drop important catches. The wicket was doing well; all the seamers bowled well. But when you drop some catches, it makes a difference. Hopefully, we will bounce tomorrow and come back into the game.
On whether the late wicket of Uday Kaul was a big boost
Yes it was. Uday Kaul is good player and stays at the wicket so we have got an very big wickets. Hopefully if we get a couple of early wickets with the new ball tomorrow [that will help].
On the importance of getting an outright win
Every match is important. We came very close [to winning] in the last game at CCI. We picked 17 wickets so it was better than the earlier matches.
On playing at Wankhede and opting to bowl
When you win the toss at Wankhede you opt to bowl because the wicket here generally wicket here helps the seamers and spinners. When you have three seamers and a bowler like Abhishek Nayar who has taken six wickets in the last match then you have four seamers so you have to take the advantage.
On the absence of Wasim Jaffer giving another player like Kaustubh Pawar yet another chance
Yes, it does give opportunity to other players. Kaustubh is doing well this season.
On the points table
There or four teams are very close to each other in terms of points. Madhya Pradesh who are at No 2 have 11 points. Getting three points every game also makes a difference. I feel whichever team gets more than 20 points will make it through. One outright win makes a lot of difference.
On Ramesh Powar bowling well but not getting wickets
He has been bowling well. He bowled very well in the last match and in the match against Hyderabad as well. He had bowled a four-over spell at CCI and bowled Wriddhiman Saha through bat and pad, that was good spell against Bengal.
Three days are left in this game so you never know. Results don’t only mean getting wickets. Sometimes you bowl well and don’t get wickets and sometimes you get wickets even when you don’t bowl well. He has bowled only six-seven overs and you can’t asses from that.
