Mumbai Indians will be playing their second game of the season against Kolkata Knight Riders on 23rd September 2020. 

The defending champions put up a good show in the first match but couldn’t finish on the winning side. They will be keen to register their first win of the tournament against KKR who don’t have a great record against MI. 

Trent Boult had a decent outing in the first match as he started with a wicket in his very first over. The left-arm pacer shared his thoughts on the CSK game, Jasprit Bumrah’s form, his death-bowling strategies and more at the pre-match press conference. 

Q: This is your first time in Mumbai Indians. How does it feel to bowl with Jasprit Bumrah at the other end? 

Boult: “It’s my first experience with the Mumbai family. I have enjoyed it so far. We’ve only played but the opportunity to bowl with Bumrah and the other guys in the bowling attack as well is very exciting. It’s a good opportunity to learn and Bumrah is a very experienced guy, he’s got amazing skills. I'm hopefully looking forward to having some success with him.” 

Q: Your first game for Mumbai started well, with a wicket but didn’t end well, assessment of your performance and areas you and the bowling unit need to work on? 

Boult: “I think from my point of view, personally coming off a big winter in New Zealand obviously with lockdowns and isolations, I haven’t played cricket in probably 6 months. I was pretty happy with the way it came out. Conditions are a lot different to what I face back home with the heat and humidity here but yeah I think we were a couple of runs short in terms of our total to defend. Coming into bowl the last over and they needed 5 runs, I don’t think there is much about what I can do there but yeah I think it’s a good place to start from. I think we can tighten up with accuracy and execution and that’s what we will look to do over the next couple of games.” 

Q: About the challenges of bowling in the death overs, how does one tackle that? 

Boult: “I think it’s the biggest challenge in the game, to be honest. I think it's very difficult coming into bowl the last couple of overs against a batsman that’s set. Faf du Plessis was set the other night on 50-60 runs. You know when guys are hitting from their platform, it’s very hard to defend, but personally, I want to try and stick to my strengths. Try yorkers and take the pace off it and try to be a step ahead of the batsman. It's the biggest challenge in T20 cricket and I’m looking forward to embracing it.” 

Q: Your thoughts on the possible duel with Andre Russell in the death overs, how do you keep him quiet? 

Boult: “I think he’s one of the most destructive batsmen in the game at the moment and therein lies the challenge. It's personally why I play the game. I have probably been quoted before saying I like to take on the big players and look to take their wickets so I’ll be looking forward to that challenge at some stage of the tournament. He's a very exciting player and we’ll have to research well.” 

Q: Bumrah’s spell was quite expensive, did it surprise you? 

Boult: “No it didn’t surprise me. He is a world class bowler. I think the no ball, obviously he isn’t trying to overstep the mark there. I know he’s worked hard over the last couple of days to find that rhythm. I'm 100% sure he’s going to be on the mark over the next coming games. He's a big player for us, a very important bowler and I’m sure we will see him bounce back very nicely.” 

Q: IPL has had three matches so far and the template has been set that you win the toss and choose to bowl, what are your thoughts on this template? 

Boult: “I think it's very early in the tournament. It's been three amazing games to start this tournament. I’m presuming the wickets are going to change, not drastically but they will deteriorate over the next couple of months. It’s really hot here, the day games will be interesting to follow but with the heat and the humidity and how the wicket seems to quicken up under lights, it looks like a better time to bat. Whatever we do first, we need to do it well. Obviously from my point of view, I just want to be on the mark with the ball and look to take wickets.” 

Q: The UAE wicket was supposed to help the spinners. You had a good time against CSK. Is the wicket theory more of a myth or is it really spin friendly? 

Boult: “As I said before, the wickets are surely going to change throughout the tournament but from what we experienced the other night, the humidity, the ball swung around a little bit. Being early in the tournament, they are fresh wickets so from my point of view I would see them as swing friendly conditions with a bit of pace in the wicket. I think the teams adjusting and accessing those conditions as early as possible are going to be the successful ones so that’s what we try to do.” 

Q: How do you see the Dubai and Abu Dhabi wicket, does it boost your morale in terms of helping you? 

Boult: “I have only experienced the Abu Dhabi wicket, I haven’t seen the other games. I have bowled a little bit in Dubai and I understand that wickets can change drastically in these conditions, so I’m looking forward to moving around and playing at the other grounds but looking to build on from the other night’s performance.”