Mumbai, Feb 23: After successfully defending a modest total of 233 runs in a last-over finish, Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar, on Thursday, said defending 14 runs off the last over gave the home team advantage and from there on it was just getting over the line.

Mumbai came from behind to register their second win in as many matches. Gujarat, who were 100 for no loss, fell 8 runs short of the target as the home team held their nerves in the last moments.

Later, Ajit Agarkar spoke to the media about the match and his team.

Excerpts:

On Gujarat losing the match despite having the upper-hand initially

Right from the beginning they needed six runs an over. There was something in the pitch and the odd ball was doing something; the conditions for bowling got better after lunch. As long as the required run-rate was high we were always in the game. If you need six runs an over you have to score off every ball. You play a couple of dot balls in every over and the pressure just keeps building. Yes, they were cruising at 120-odd runs for no loss but a couple of spells in the middle really helped us. Iqbal [Abdulla] got a couple of crucial wickets and Dhawal [Kulkarni] too bowled well. We had to defend 233 and we got the job done.

On the thrilling finish

I think the 49th over made it interesting. They needed 14 off the last over which is never easy as you have to score at least one boundary. It would’ve been even better had I given just eight runs in that over but sometimes yorkers go wrong. Today, it happened to me twice in an over. However, Kshemal [Waingankar] bowled a good last over under pressure.

On whether it was planned that Waingankar would bowl the last over

Not really. We always knew that the fifth bowler had to bowl the last over at some stage. He [Waingankar] had bowled one over and I thought if we leave them with a significant number of runs to get off the final over, with tail-enders at the crease, he can defend it. Dhawal bowled a good 48th over.

On what kept them in the hunt

We just kept getting wickets. Later, it obviously helped because not everyone bats as low as we do.

On their fielding

You need to field well. I don’t think we fielded well at all in these two games. There is a lot of room for improvement. We have had flashes of brilliance but that’s not enough. If you defend 230 succesfully, everything looks good but I think we need to improve and we are miles away from being a good fielding side. Yesterday, we dropped about four-five catches. Another day if someone gets in it might hurt us. If you want to play higher standard of cricket you need to field better. We are working on it and hopefully we’ll keep improving as the tournament progresses.

On the top-order not contributing

You don’t want to lose early wickets but sometimes it happens. To lose a toss on this kind of a track is never great because there was enough in it for the bowlers. We haven’t played one-day cricket on a track like that for a while. If you have wickets in hand – which we didn’t – you can look to score later on. But we have got enough experience and talent in the batting line-up. Iqbal [Abdulla] and Dhawal contributed and Wasim [Jaffer] played a great knock. Having Wasim at the crease always helps.

On managing his own spells as a captain

I got used to it a bit today. Yesterday was a bit different. Knowing that I have to bowl at crucial stages makes it easier to manage. Dhawal is young, although he has been around for a while, and Kshemal is playing his first season for us. I don’t want to put them under too much of pressure in every match. Iqbal and Ankeet have been bowling superbly in both the games and that has helped us. We have not really required the sixth bowler as yet. Hopefully it says that way.

On why Abhishek Nayar didn’t bowl

There wasn’t much in it for the seamers so we needed to bowl out our best bowlers, Iqbal and Ankeet, as quickly as possible. Had Gujarat lost early wickets, it would have become easier for Nayar to come and keep the pressure on. Yesterday, there was enough in the wicket for a fourth seamer to bowl but today there wasn’t anything in the afternoon. If the ball comes on to the bat nicely it gets easier for the batsmen to score off the seamers.

On Siddharth Chitnis

I think he hurt his hamstring yesterday but I’m not too sure. The support staff will look at him today and decide on his condition.