Gulf Giants lost their first chance to make it to the finals of the ILT20 after they suffered a 45-run run defeat at the hands of MI Emirates in Qualifier 1 on Wednesday night in Dubai, even as Mumbai went through to Saturday's final.
The defending champions couldn't chase down the target of 164 as they collapsed after scoring 118 in 18.2 overs. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth was the star of the match as he picked up 3 wickets, preventing the Giants from putting up a big fightback with the bat.
Shimron Hetmyer reflected on the loss, his performance in the tournament, the upcoming IPL challenge and much more as he spoke to The Quint after the game.
Not the ideal game today but you have played a few good knocks. What do you make of your time at the ILT20?
So far, for me, it's been up and down. It wasn't really the best of starts for me. I think I was just really finding my way because of the fact that I wasn't getting the scores that I really wanted to. And then after I got into it, I think that is when I really started to enjoy it. Even tonight, although I didn't get that much, actually, I pretty much enjoy just being out on the field and out on the park.
This competition will be followed by the IPL. You didn't have the best of starts to your IPL career but have been successful since joining Rajasthan Royals. How did that transformation happen?
It's a little bit different, really. The pitches and the boundaries are actually much bigger there as well. That's mostly it. And there are not that many crowds, not that many people in the stands (here), so you have a little bit more opportunity to focus just for a little bit longer.
Talking about international cricket, you were once left out of the West Indies team not because of poor performance, but just because you couldn't board a flight. How difficult was that phase and how did you come out of it?
For me, it wasn't that difficult, to be honest. There's actually another reason for that which I wouldn't see, actually, to what happened, really. But it wasn't really that much of a big transformation for me after that. It was just me being at home and just relaxing and waiting for when I get the opportunity to play again.
At RR, you have seen how Yashasvi Jaiswal has grown from a kid with potential to an international superstar. Tell us about how he is behind the cameras.
He's more with the local guys, to be fair. He's more with the local guys and with Joss, more with anything else. So far, he's been really good to look at. It's been really fun to actually see him performing on the TV and stuff. I'm really happy for him and proud of him as well.
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