“Cricket is becoming baseball, isn’t it? It was absolutely incredible,” Curran reflected in the post-match presentation. “Where we are? [start]? Absolutely delighted with two points. Games like this are out of this world, but the most important thing is that we have had some difficult weeks as a team. [this was Kings’ first win in five games] but we have really endured. “We’ve pushed the teams to the limit and, I guess, let’s forget about the scores… I thought we really deserved the win.”
“Yes, I think about a lot of different things. [have added up to this]” Curran said. “I think the way the guys train is obviously huge and they can hit balls for a long period of time. I guess it’s the confidence, the coaches and the way we’ve been training. Let’s be honest: small grounds with a little dew and ball. [gets wet] and sometimes you get a broad call. You think you have a dot ball, you check it and then it’s wide. Then an extra ball. So yeah, I’m not saying it’s a batsmen’s game, but it shows… I’m sure everyone wants to keep seeing sixes. I think the statistics are definitely getting lost. “It’s about winning those little moments.”
“I’m really happy for Jonny. He’s obviously been on tour for a long time,” Curran said. “A couple of games out of the team, it seemed like he came back really eager to score runs for the team and showed how amazing he is. So I’m really happy for him.”
What was Bairstow’s game plan when he faced a chase of 262 on his comeback? “Try to hit it as far as possible,” Bairstow said with a smile. “I’ve never been in a game where 260 has been scored. Look, if it’s in your crease, you have to go. If you really have a couple of quiet overs, which we actually did against Sunil [Narine, who finished with figures of 4-0-24-1]… [That was] because we know how important he is to his side and losing less wickets against someone like that is imperative for a chase like that.”
“To be honest, both teams played tremendously and I personally feel like this is one of those games where you have to go back to the drawing board and make sure you introspect on the areas where you went wrong,” Shreyas said. “Especially batting first and getting 260 on the board and then not being able to defend hurts, but at the same time, it is a great lesson for all the players, especially the bowlers. We have one more game here and it is important that we evaluate the conditions and propose better ideas.