We felt that 200 was a competitive score: Conway

Very rarely do we see the Player of the Match be from the team that lost an encounter but such was Devon Conway’s knock. Batting first, Conway put on a masterclass in Chennai, playing around with the various fields and bowlers to make the crowd roar. In the 52 balls that Conway played, he scored 92 runs and found a way to get 16 fours, and a solitary six. 

Chennai too looked like the team to beat at the halfway mark when the Conway-led batting unit took them to 200. On almost nine out of ten occasions, Chennai would make such a total a one-sided contest but today was the other one occasion. Punjab Kings’ put on a power-packed batting display, that eventually helped them to get past the finish line with four wickets to spare. 

In the post-match presentation, Conway reckoned that 200 was a competitive total, especially with the wicket plating a bit slow. 

“As I said at the innings break, we felt that it is a bit slow when you hit the wicket but to be fair it was a good wicket. We felt that 200 was a very competitive score. Disappointed that we lost that one. It is never easy,” Conway said at the post-match presentation. 

On his own batting display, Conway opened up that it is about keeping things simple and sticking to a process. While the left-hander has his own plan in place, the constant communication with the batting coach, Michael Hussey too comes in as a blessing in disguise. 

“It is about keeping things simple, sticking to my process and not to complicate things. In T20s it can be up and down. I try to work as close as I can with Mike Hussey who is very experienced not only for Australia but also for CSK, he has played a lot of cricket here, along with the other players,” he added.

Ahead of the 2022 IPL season, Chennai let go of one of their consistent performers, Faf du Plessis, replacing the Proteas with the Kiwi batter, Conway. Since then, Conway has put on a show with Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top of the order, forming a central role in Chennai’s success. The left-hander opened up on his relationship with his fellow opener. 

“I enjoy batting with Ruturaj and Ajinkya has got a lot of experience. When you build partnerships, it helps.”