Nepal's Monty Desai on them all but exiting the T20 World Cup after their game with Sri Lanka was abandoned due to heavy rain.
Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
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00:00I did see you got a pretty good reception though from the crowd in the build-up to tonight's
00:13game.
00:14What did you make of that and what did you make of the support here in Florida for your
00:18team?
00:19We're indebted.
00:20Just the way the fans have been following this young team all over the globe in cricket,
00:26it obviously keeps on bringing the sense of responsibility that we have to bring some
00:30more smiles for them.
00:31So, I'm very, very grateful to all of them.
00:34Looking at your team now, there's a point on the board at least, but moving towards
00:38the back end, you've got a couple of sort of important games obviously.
00:44What are you looking for from the young playing group that you've got to dig deep and to try
00:49and get the results that you can get to try and fight for a Super 8 spot?
00:55We'll focus on the next game and obviously we want the sun to shine and have a proper
01:01game.
01:02We possess skill sets which we believe is good enough on that particular day if presented
01:08properly to challenge in this format any teams.
01:11We know that we are walking into the unknowns, we have never played South Africa before.
01:15But at the same time, you know, the morale in the camp, just the way we have been training
01:20very hard.
01:21We can't show all that, present all that to people around, but we as a group together,
01:27including the coaches, we know that a lot of work has been put in.
01:30Unfortunately, things which are not in our control, we cannot think about that.
01:34Coach, one point in two games, you'd happily take that before the tournament, but we still
01:43have two matches and everything is in our hands.
01:45How do you see that equation-wise going forward in the tournament?
01:49We wanted a game, to be honest, you know, when you talk about sharing points, you said
01:54that, right?
01:55But I think more importantly, that's the way we got a couple of days over here to train
02:00well and I thought this window after the close or hard-fought game, whichever way you want
02:06to put it, against Netherlands, we had a good opportunity to prepare against Sri Lanka and
02:13knowing for the fact that they were also under a bit of pressure, we thought this was an
02:18opportunity for us.
02:20But having said that, now, again, we just have to get back in present, live in the now
02:26and focus on what we can do well in St. Vincent.
02:28We have been there before we came here, but all the experiences of this World Cup shows
02:34that the pitches and the conditions, we have to adapt and adjust, it's not going to be
02:40straightforward.
02:41We'll have Sandeep joining in, in the West Indies League and we've seen Spinner's friendly
02:47tracks back in West Indies.
02:49How big of an advantage or a boost is that, that Sandeep is winning in West Indies?
02:55The good thing is to have Sandeep and again, I would say this purely because we know the
03:01kind of journey that we went in last year and Sandeep had an important role to play
03:05in that when we qualified.
03:08He was core member of this team when we crossed the line against UAE and also when we fought
03:13so well against Oman in that most important final which we lost in Super Over.
03:19Having said that, again, what he, I mean I cannot talk about anything, what happens in
03:25personal life and challenges, but in terms of cricket journey, I think he is looking
03:29up for this opportunity and we are looking forward to having him back in the dressing
03:34room.
03:35Again, St. Vincent, there are no games played yet, so we need to go there and see what kind
03:41of condition they will walk in.
03:43In general, in West Indies, we expect spin, but I think we will have to first watch the
03:48game.
03:49I think we have an opportunity to watch the game and see what pans out and then work accordingly,
03:54but Sandeep will play an important role in the team.
03:57Hi Coach, what did they tell you about the field and what condition the wet field was
04:06in?
04:07Initially, we were having a little bit of hopes, but the amount of rain and to clear
04:13all the rain, the super soakers and the manpower that they have, I think one side of the ground
04:18had a lot more water, which was not easy to get it out and it was probably not going to
04:24be easy to play the game because we remember these conditions also, umpires look into for
04:30making sure that it's safe, so I think overall it was a call taken by them and we respect
04:35that call.
04:36Hi Monty, congratulations for the first point.
04:45Just wondering about the pitches back in St. Vincent because lots of talks about the pitches
04:51in America because other coaches were pretty concerned as well, yesterday we heard Aqib
04:54Javed pretty concerned about this.
04:58As you said, you haven't played there in that particular ground, but your expectations as
05:03we all are saying there's plenty of a spin there, does that, and interestingly you opted
05:09to take out a medium pacer in place of a spinner that is coming in, which is a big boost to
05:15the team as well.
05:16So how do you make out of the whole scenario of the pitches and replacing a medium pacer
05:21with a spinner?
05:24Taking pitch into account, I think right from the time when we were preparing for this World
05:28Cup including being in TU, our homework was all about that and you can only do a homework
05:34through the experiences which you had in the past, so taking all that into account, all
05:39the memories of Roddy and myself also being with Cindy's team before, we were very much
05:46confident about the fact that we need the spin department to be intact and Sandeep is
05:52also part of the squad now, but whatever I've seen so far, I feel that because of the World
05:58Cup, maybe the pitches being relayed, drop-in pitches, all that stuff, I don't have a thorough
06:04knowledge of that.
06:06It seems that you have to be so proactive and you should be so ready that even if there
06:11are lateral moment on those pitches, we have to be up for it and we have to be up for those
06:15challenges with the skill set that we can present and I still believe that we have certain
06:20skill sets which should be good on that particular day to challenge and to compete against the
06:25best sides.
06:26Vinod Iyer, similar question to previous one, you are familiar with caravan wickets,
06:36how do you expect condition and wicket wise?
06:42So we went there for a week and we played on a different ground but those pitches we
06:45were familiar with, it was little sticky, slow, 180 odd, 160 odd score still because
06:51of the ground and the wind, but again I think we have not really trained or anywhere near
06:58to the stadium and I think as soon as you get closer to the stadium and the facilities
07:02you put out there, you can see that it's fresh pitches with a bit of grass, lateral
07:08moment, with overcast conditions, so seamers are coming in to play, but we have a balanced
07:14side, in that balanced side you also have room for spinners to play a role, at the same
07:19time all-rounders to play a role, I know that all the boys are excited about an opportunity,
07:25we missed out today, you congratulated for the one point but I don't think we need
07:32to be proud about any of these points, what we want to do is through our actions on the
07:35ground in those 120 balls, what we put across with our skill sets, that will matter a lot
07:41because these kind of opportunities don't come very often, we have worked hard to get
07:46into the World Cup, two games left, we want the whole two games to be played properly,
07:50120 balls, whoever plays has an opportunity to leave his mark out there, leave his footprint
07:55out there.