IPL 2019: A big game for Mumbai Indians: De Kock

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Bengaluru, March 27: Quinton de Kock, the Mumbai Indians wicketkeeper batsman said the Mumbai outfit will bounce back strongly from the defeat against Delhi Capitals. Mumbai will face Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday (March 28) at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here. Excerpts from De Kock's press meet.

Has there been any discussion on finishing a close game? "I think, since I've been here, we've had a couple of discussions on how we're gonna go about it. But the execution is always the key no matter what plans you have. We do have a couple of the best - Bumrah himself is one of the best death bowlers in the world having seen him and played against him. He's not one of the best death bowlers for no reason. And couple of other boys around, Hadik, Mitchell McCleneghan, they all are top bowlers. I only see the good over coming out of it. I know they are going to bounce back."

On Rishabh Pant: "I've played with Rishabh before. I've seen him and watched him grow very quickly. You know its quite something to watch especially the view I have at the back. He is capable of doing it quite often. He has a lot of power in his shots. A very strong boy. I can only see good coming out of him. I think he's going to be a good investment for India"

On the need to get a win under the belt: Any big tournament around the world, any sports tournament, everybody wants to get off to a good start. Coming into this game knowing we haven't won a game or RCB, so it's a big game for us tomorrow. We need to get going with a win and hopefully build some momentum on top of that and get things rolling for our campaign this year.

On the motivation to do well against RCB, having played for them last season: Playing in this tournament, no matter whom we're playing against or whom I'm playing against, you're always quite determined to score runs whether that's RCB, Delhi, Sunrisers whoever, I'm always quite determined to contrinbute towards the team and just get the team over to a winning side, that's what my goal is and what I'll try and do.

On familiarity with RCB bowlers and will it be an advantage: It's one thing knowing the bowlers (in the nets)... and playing against them in a competitive surrounding is going to be a different ball game. You're going to have to assess the wicket first. I've played against Umesh, and a couple of their bowlers. When they're bowling well they're really hard to get going against. They've got some good bowlers in their team that they rely on so we're just going to go out there and see what happens and hopefully just come out on top.

Value of AB's wicket: AB being AB, he's a big wicket for them. I think if we get him out pretty early, we stand a good chance of doing well in the game. So we have spoken about it - about how we're going to try and get him out and hopefully it comes off otherwise we just hope he makes a mistake.

On using IPL to iron out batting against wrist-spin: "I think guys that are not from the sub-continent, we come here to the IPL, when we come we try and learn as much as we can (in terms of tackling spin). It's the exact same as when the subcontinent guys come to our countries they learn how to play fast bowling. Obviously it's always a learning curve for all of us... you know, especially India they've got some up and coming spinners, very wily. So obviously just being able to try to learn when you're playing against them how to play them, and hopefully we'll take that into the World Cup"