David Miller sounded like a man focussed on getting things right, knowing full well where his team went wrong in the previous encounter.
Talking to the media on the eve of Kings XI Punjab match against host Delhi Daredevils, the skipper said, “The idea is to be smarter in the middle overs. It is all about being smarter than the opposition. There are 13 more games to go and we are sure to learn along the way. There are no easy games. We stay switched on and take whatever we get along the way.”
Looking back on the opener against Gujarat Lions, he said, “It wasn’t a good game. I learnt a few things personally. We are about 20 runs short and it was always tough defending. But we have been here in Delhi for the last three days. It has been nice to get to the nets and practicing.”
Pointing to the decisive over of the match, Miller said, “For (Glenn) Maxwell and me to fall in one over off (Dwayne) Bravo was a bit of a turning point for them (Gujarat Lions). That’s the way the game goes and we have learnt a lot from the first game.”
Reflecting on the loss, he said, “We bowled too many boundary balls. In T20, obviously the batters are going to come hard at the bowlers. I think we gave away over 20 boundaries in the innings. So this time we will try and put more pressure on the new batters. A few more dot balls and singles instead of boundaries. In short, we want to keep things simple.”
For Delhi Daredevils, Amit Mishra chose to highlight the confidence in the squad ahead of the first home game. “We have a positive approach and our preparations are going on well. Initially, even if a few matches don’t go our way, we will go all out with an aggressive intent,” he said.
He agreed that the leg-spinners had started this edition of IPL well. “A combination of Imran Tahir and me (both leg-spinners) is all good but I can’t say anything about selection matters.”
About Rahul Dravid’s role as a mentor, Mishra said, “He wants the bowlers to go for wickets and not worry about the runs. He speaks positive and everyone is happy with him around.”
Talking about the pitches, in IPL as compared to what one saw during the World T20, Mishra said, “In this competition, the pitches are made for the batsmen. So as a bowler, you have to anticipate where the batsmen could hit you and bowl accordingly.”
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