“We had our plans for Pollard”
espnstar.com’s Rajarshi Gupta spoke to NSW Blues skipper Simon Katich after he lifted the inaugural Airtel CL T20, beating T&T.
Kieron Pollard would have been weighing heavily on Katich's mind even before the first ball of the final had been bowled.
After all, the tall Trinidadian had launched a brutal assault on the Blues in one of the Super Eights matches and snatched victory from the jaws of certain defeat.
However, Katich revealed this time, the team was well prepared.
"We had planned for the entire Trinidad and Tobago team and Pollard in particular and the guys executed everything to the letter."
The left-handed batsman said he never felt out of the game, not even when the Blues were reeling at 83 for six.
Watch the innings of Trinidad and Tobago
"I thought a score of 140 would have been good enough from that stage and with the kind of bowlers we had in Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Dougie Bollinger and Nathan Hauritz, I was confident of defending that score."
Katich said his players will draw a lot from the Airtel CL T20 triumph and that it will hold them in good stead for the rest of their careers.
"I am very proud of what the guys have achieved. It was a brilliant team performance where the seniors and youngsters chipped in well."
The captain heaped praises on his bowlers, reserving the best for Hauritz's delivery to get rid of the dangerous Pollard.
Watch the innings of New South Wales Blues
"Pollard had just him for a huge six and for all you know, Hauritz tosses up the next one. Brett Lee took a fantastic catch in the deep and I though that was a big moment in the match."
It indeed was. Pollard was the eighth T&T wicket to fall and the last two perished within the space of an over without even the semblance of a fight.
As his victorious bunch trickled into the pub at the team hotel, Katich quipped.
"We are all going to part hard, mate. The boys have earned it."
They need it to as Sunday will bring another gruelling challenge for most of the Blues, who join the Australian team to take on India for a seven match ODI series.
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