Saud Shakeel and Bas de Leede, post-match press conference, Pakistan vs Netherlands, 2nd Match, ICC CWC 2023

Pakistan player Saud Shakeel and Netherlands player Bas de Leede, post-match press conference,  Pakistan vs Netherlands, 2nd Match, ICC CWC 2023.

Pakistan player Saud Shakeel

Netherlands player Bas de Leede

Transcipt of  - Pakistan player Saud Shakeel post-match press conference 

Reporter:

You bowl well, but batting is still a bit of a concern. Your opener is not clicking. And lower middle order also not playing well.

Saud Shakeel:

I think it's not like that. The wicket was not easy to bat on earlier in the match. So that's why we lost some early wickets. It's all about team effort. I think when the upper-order batsmen don’t get runs, it becomes our duty to score runs. That's how things happen.

Reporter: in Hindi

Can you tell us when you got to know that you would play today’s match and how important is today’s match for your ODI career?

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

I knew some time back that I would play this match. I played a warm-up match and I had good batting there. I knew I would play this match. This game was very important. It is the start of my career. I did well in my Test matches. I had a lot of hope that I would perform like this in One-Day cricket, I am very happy with my performance.

Reporter: in Hindi

This is the first win of the World Cup, so it's a big win for you because it will boost your morale to a great extent. But your problem is in the opening. We saw in the warm-up matches and in today's competition, that at one stage your three players were out. Later, yours and Rizwan's partnership, I think was the turning point, you two added120 runs. Isn't this a big concern for you that you are not able to click in the opening?

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

I don't think it is a big concern. The tournament has just started, and we are playing in Hyderabad. Everyone knows that the ball stops early on here on this pitch. There are chances of losing wicket. I don't think it is a concern. We have batted first in all the matches, so we got a chance to bat in the daytime. If it was at night, then it would have been a different scenario. I don't think there is much concern.

Reporter: In Hindi

When you and Rizwan came together at 38 for 3, can you tell us about that partnership? Because it seems that Rizwan was a bit aggressive, and you were nervous. So, what were you talking about? Did you set any goals for that partnership?

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

Of course, there were nerves. But I was lucky that I found a few odd boundaries. Sometimes it happens that you find such boundaries, it makes it easier for you. I was clear in my mind that I wanted to attack and play positive cricket. Rizwan Bhai's role was to go long but my plan was simple. I had focused on a few bowlers of the Netherlands. If I had to hit from above, I would take a chance. I did that. I took a chance. I was trying to stay positive and kept attacking the bowlers I had targeted.

Reporter:

You have seen a lot of success in Test cricket in your short career. Coming into the limited overs format, did you feel you have to prove a point? And when you came in, till August you were probably not in the mix, but you came in before the Afghanistan series and Asia Cup and then you are here. So just talk us through this One-Day journey. You have learnt a lot, but you didn’t get much time. Tell us how you had to adjust to this role?

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

See when you play Test cricket, I think it is the most difficult format, you know that. So, when you perform well there, you gain a lot of confidence. I think I performed very well in the Test matches, so my confidence level was very high.

But at the same time, I was focusing a lot on my white-ball cricket. I was focusing a lot on my game. I could see that my numbers for playing for Pakistan were 5-6 (batting order). Babar Azam plays at 3 and Rizwan plays at 4. I tried to develop my game and worked hard for it. A person has a vision and works hard for it. I tried the same. I could see that I am not playing much One-Day cricket, not much white-ball domestic cricket in Pakistan in which I can prove my point. But at the same time, when I played Test match cricket for Sri Lanka, I showed that I am ready for white-ball cricket.

Reporter:

If we talk about the two rounds, what was the pitch like in the first round when you were batting and bowling, the spinners were getting a lot of purchase from the track.

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

We have come to India for the first time. We don't have much of an idea of playing in India. But we have seen a little bit of IPL. We have seen a lot of matches in Hyderabad. So, I think that the spinners get a little help early on here. And that happened in the warm-up match as well. If you see, the early on 20-20 overs are very crucial. If you lose a wicket, like we lost in both the matches, you go on back foot. But both the times, I went there and attacked and I was successful. I think it's only Hyderabad or Chennai where it's a little difficult to score. I think other places have better wickets. You should try not to let the wickets go early-on. You can cover it later. So, we were trying to do it, but we lost the wickets in it. But you covered it later.

Reporter:

During your partnership with Rizwan, there was a point where Netherlands had just three fielders inside the circle. So, did you spot that or did Rizwan spot it and how did that go?

Saud Shakeel:

Yeah, it was like when the bowler just started to run and suddenly, I thought that there is a like four fielders inside the circle. But I wasn't sure honestly speaking. I wasn't sure that there are four or less so I just came down the track and chipped like 50-50 chance to just chip there. And as soon as I realized that I saw that there are four fielders inside, I went to the umpire and said that it should be a no-ball. They had four fielders inside the circle. So, I was fortunate enough that I got a free hit and I capitalized on it by hitting a six.

Reporter: in Hindi

You were saying that you had prepared for the batting at number 5 and 6. Can you give us some details on that? What changes did you bring in your preparations and practice made for that specific role?

Saud Shakeel: in Urdu

I think it was more of a mindset change. Few years back I never used to hit big like this, I didn't take many chances. I preferred to play on the ground. But I made my mindset that I have to accept one thing, that where are your numbers to play against Pakistan. It is very important to realize this as a player. So, I made my game plan accordingly. I haven't changed much. I tried to adapt and I think the best thing is that we came to India to play the World Cup. It's really good here. If you settle here, you get the value of your shots. So, I think that's in my mind. And I try to stay in good shape and keep my technique so that I don't make shots that are too hard and I'm succeeding in that.

Transcipt of - Netherlands player Bas de Leede post-match press conference

Reporter:

Why did the Netherlands choose bowling first and why after winning the toss?

Bas De Leede:

I'm not too sure, that's The captain and coach, they put a lot of thought into that. I think they had the impression that it was our best chance of winning. And I think we did put ourselves in great positions, but we couldn't hold that pressure for long enough, which was a shame.

Reporter:

What went wrong for you, especially when you bowled extremely well?

Bas De Leede:

Yeah, I think we started really well and then sort of allowed them to get a partnership together and credit to them they batted well throughout that period and then I think at the end in the death, we probably let them get 20 runs too many maybe and then batting wise you know same again, we put ourselves in a good position and then lost three wickets in quick time which put us on the back foot, and then it was tough to recover from that

Reporter:

Which of those four wickets did you particularly enjoy the most?

Bas De Leede:

I think the ball to Mohammad Rizwan was nice.

Reporter:

Were you happy sort of containing them to 280? And where did you think in the batting that slip up happened? At 124, you were looking in a good position. What was the reason that you believe caused the downfall?

Bas De Leede:

If you offered us to bowl Pakistan out for 280 before the game, we would have taken it. So, I think we're happy in that sense but then again If we could have kept them down to 20 less, it would have been even better in the position that we were in. And then batting-wise, 120 for two was obviously a good position for us. And I think it was the wickets that were our downfall. We lost Vikram, then lost Teja, then lost Scott Edwards in quite a quick couple of overs, which put us on the back foot. It's tough to then go on and put up another partnership and try and win the game.

Reporter:

Bas, so obviously you did all you could with bat and ball, but how is it facing the likes of Haris Rauf, obviously an unusually quick bowler, if you can talk about that?

Bas De Leede:

I enjoyed it. Obviously, he's quick. But I enjoyed the battle, everything has to be a bit quicker. So, it's a good challenge for us. And I think it's good to face a guy like that probably in the first game of the tournament. So, it's obviously different. So hopefully, guys can get used to a pace like that again and use it for the rest of the tournament.

Reporter:

When you started the innings, the chase, against the pacers it was pretty much good going but once the spinners came in it felt like, especially Vikram got a little bogged down. You also were not able to get those runs freely. Was it something that you also felt like against spinners that it became a bit tough.

Bas De Leede:

Yeah, I think they bowled really well. It wasn't the easiest wicket to face spin on because some did turn. And, you know, we've also put a lot of preparation into facing spin. And I still think we could have won that game with the middle we had. But yeah, it is always tough to face quality spinners.

Reporter:

We saw you play one superb shot for six over mid-wicket off Navaz, the left arm spinner. In county cricket, I mean, obviously, you're wired to play fast bowling differently on seaming wickets. Just as a follow-up to the previous question, can you just take us through the kind of work that you had to put into to better your game against spin?

Bas De Leede:

Well, before I went to India, I spoke to a couple of people that have experience here and asked them what they think overseas batters needed to do to succeed against spin in India. So, I think from then on, I tried to pick line and length up a bit quicker than I'm probably used to. And just stuff like that. And it's probably also thinking about a game plan before the game, talking to the coaches, that helps a lot.

Reporter:

The knock was good, so what are the plans for the next match? Because New Zealand, it's going to be an equally challenging team in terms of bowling. It's more or less like Pakistan side.

Bas De Leede:

Yeah. They beat England quite comfortably the other day, which was great to see from a cricketing point of view. I really enjoyed watching that but you know it I think every team in this competition has a quality bowling attack, so I'm sure it probably is a mixture of coming up with a game plan and prepare for that. Obviously, you've got Henry at the start who's been excellent and then Trent Boult, similar to Shaheen probably. Lockie Ferguson probably similar to Haris Rauf. So, a lot of similarities, but I think we'll take our learnings from this game and then try and adapt for next game.

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