Much needed from team's point of view. I am very happy to win a home game like this. I mean they come up with a plan. They tried to make me hit to the bigger part. Take the pace off and bowl slow. I said Nehal let's hit it hard and hit it into the gaps and run hard. Your practice has to be the same what you intend to do in matches. I know where my runs are. We have open net sessions. I know my game. I don't do anything different.
It is a good pitch. If you apply yourselves, you can get runs. Those four guys played well. Akash was with us last year as well. We saw the skillset. We wanted to give him a role. He is quite confident. He leads his Uttarakhand team. He knows what field he needs. We restricted them to less than 200. Was a great effort, It could have been 220 or more. I have no idea what a safe score is. The last four games we have seen excess of 200 has been scored. Most of the teams are taking risks and it is coming off. The batters are taking risks and 200 plus scores are being chased. The mindset of the batters is to do something special for the team and it is coming off as well.
It was fun batting up the order, earlier I was batting down. I got an opportunity to bat up and I got back-to-back fifties. I am happy with my fifty but I am more happy that my team won and I hope we continue to do so. I have the confidence within me that if I keep on batting till the end, I can finish the game for the team. Surya bhai is a top-class player and I also try to copy some of his shots but I cannot. While he was batting I was talking to him and he was saying 'keep playing, keep playing' and he was giving me confidence. He told me, 'If both of us bat till the 15th-16th over, we can finish the game even early.' And that's what we did. The previous game which I played against CSK, I played a scoop. Earlier I didn't play, after seeing Surya bhai bat, I also learned from him and I am very happy.
I think we were at least 20 runs short, in context of the wicket. They are a strong chasing team and they bat deep. We didn't capitalise in the last five overs, disappointed due to the lack of runs in those five overs. You need to say 200 is a good score (to motivate the players), needed to make sure you take the pace off. They capitalized the first 6 overs with the pace on. He (SKY) is one of the best, when he gets going, it's difficult to shut him down. Siraj has been fantastic in the first half of IPL. He got away with it for a really long time, but the guys are going to come out and play positively. Towards the back end of the tournament when the wickets get slower, you need to make sure you are around 60 runs in the first 6 overs.