Mumbai, Mar 27: Mumbai lost the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy semi-final to an upbeat Punjab, extending what’s been a dispirited season for the team with glorious precedents. Skipper Ajit Agarkar spoke to the media about the match and the season in the post-match press conference.

Excerpts from the press conference:

On the 123-run target Mumbai set Punjab

We could have got a few more runs. If we could have got a few early wickets, we could have put pressure early on. Once you require less than five runs an over there is very little pressure on the batsmen.

On losing quick wickets

[...] Ajju [Anjinkya Rahane] and Abhishek Nayar got out together – in Twenty20 cricket you don’t want to lose wickets together. But we needed to get more than 120-odd runs, really, else take ten wickets in ten overs.

On losing another semi-final

It would have been good to go one step further in both formats [one-day and T20] that I played. Always the aim is to get to the semi-final; then you have good chance to win the tournament. In one-dayers we played well but probably couldn’t finish off in the finals. We probably didn’t do all the things right and today didn’t really play well [...] They have always been good players. [...] It has been a good experience for some of the newer guys to bowl under pressure or bat at certain stages. Most of the guys in the dressing room are playing IPL now so they will try and learn from that experience, being around international players. But yes, we have got to play better, especially the shorter format of the game. In the Ranji Trophy we generally tend to do well over a period of time. Reaching the semi-finals is a decent run in the Ranji Trophy but in the one-dayers and Twenty20s we need to improve a lot. Fielding is one of the [areas] where we can do a lot better. [...]

On whether they would have fielded first had they won the toss

No, not really. It was a good pitch. [....] Unless the pitch is doing a lot, you bowl in India. Otherwise you look to bat first.

On the wicket

It probably wasn’t a 200 [-run] wicket but 150 is the minimum [total] that you need [while defending] in Twenty20 cricket. If you have a decent attack then you can put pressure on the opposition.

On the top-order failure

That’s the nature of Twenty20. Sometimes that can happen. [...].

On the pressure of captaincy

It is okay. Gives me less time to warm-up than I would like [smiles] because I have to run for the toss but yes, it is okay.

On Ajinkya Rahane not being able to convert starts into big scores

He just got a big hundred in the Deodhar Trophy so obviously he is not playing badly. He was run out the other day and [scored] a few runs today. In Twenty20 you can’t really get a hundred so as long as your contribution helps the team, it is good enough.

On what would have been a good total to defend

[....] Having runs on the board makes a big difference. 150 [runs at least] if not 180 runs [on the board would have helped]. 150 would have been a decent total to defend but we almost had it. With a couple of more wickets at certain stages the pressure would have been different.

On the two left-arm spinners that gave Mumbai a chance

Yes. Initially even Dhaval [Kulkarni] and Javed [Khan] [bowled well] but we needed quick wickets. Once in, while you might be able to defend 120 [-odd] runs, you still need to pick wickets.

On whether the dropped catch made a difference

It happens. It is part of the game. We wouldn’t have liked to drop catches. It was a crucial stage [...] We still had to get 80 runs. [If they would] have been under pressure [it would have been difficult]. One can’t say there was a lot of experience in the batting. But we don’t know; someone else would have come in and cracked a 50 [...] The stage of the game was tricky at that point for them. They had just lost quick wickets so it would have been interesting.

On the team’s disappointment

Yes, [we are disappointed]. I think we haven’t won a trophy in two years now. I don’t think it has happened in my career [so far] that I haven’t won anything for two years.