Mandeep Singh : I had a sleepless night before the match

06/22/2016

Mandeep Singh, who was handed his T20I debut in the first T20I of the three-match series against Zimbabwe, has revealed that the pressure got to him before the second match of the series. The 24-year-old, however, did end up playing a big role in India's convincing win over the hosts on Monday.

“I had a sleepless night before the match, things like pressure of winning a match or the series play on your mind, and also the fact that the selectors are watching you. Call it pressure or nervousness, whatever you want. But when you go into bat, it becomes a little easier, at least for me. At that time, I just thought, the target is 100, how do I achieve that. Once I’m inside, these things don’t bother me, that the selectors are watching, that this series is very important. Before the match these things do play on my mind, this series is obviously very important, but honestly, once I go in, it’s only I have to bat and win the match, and obviously, (things like) reading the wicket, what is the situation,” Mandeep Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.

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The opening batsman scored 31 runs on his T20 debut as India suffered a shocking 2-run defeat. However, the visitors leveled the series in the second match with a 10-wicket win. KL Rahul and Mandeep Singh formed an unbeaten 103-run partnership at the top to guide India to a crucial win, after the bowlers restricted Zimbabwe to a paltry total.

I had a sleepless night before the match"

Despite trailing in the series, Mandeep said that the team was concentrating more on their performance, rather than winning the match. He said, “We were thinking to focus on our process rather than thinking too much about the result. Obviously, we want to win the series, but if we always think about winning then it will be like building up pressure. So we were trying to focus on the process."

Also read: Is KL Rahul the long term replacement for Shikhar Dhawan ?

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