ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

October 18, 2022

Karthik Meiyappan

Kardinia Park

UAE

Post Match Media Conference

Sri Lanka - 152/8, UAE - 73

Q. Could you discuss your feelings at the moment? Obviously incredible moment for you, but the team, a big loss. Thoughts at the moment. Bittersweet?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: Firstly, it was a good outing for me personally, but it would have been much better for us to get past the line, especially against a test playing nation like Sri Lanka.

But over the past couple of games we played, we got pretty close. We never got to cross the line. Today, there was a big difference, though, but it is not a great space to be in but, like, a lot of positives to take out of this tournament which we can and we should be proud about. That is it.

Q. Just talk about the hat-trick. Previously in T20 World Cups it's been Brett Lee, Rabada, Hasaranga and, one more, Campher got two hat-tricks in World Cups, what does it feel like to be mentioned alongside those guys?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: Still hasn't sunk in the fact I got a hat-trick in a T20 World Cup and the first bowler to do so. It really is a proud moment, amazing. But like I said, it would have been much sweeter, much better if we had won the game tonight.

Q. Have you ever got a hat-trick before in any level of cricket?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: I've got close but never had one.

Q. When you got it, in the bungle, Brett Lee had taken the middle catch. Ari was on the field as well. And Ali even bomb bombed the field with you. What's it like playing in a World Cup with these guys and having grown up with them and obviously having a moment like that with them?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: It is a great feeling to play with the boys. We played in the World Cup back in 2020. And then to play the T20World Cup with them now is a great feeling for all of us. It's just a lot of energy to play with them. Youngsters taking on the field and doing what we do, that is something that we take a lot of pride in.

Q. How did you feel how those teams reflected on the batting performance, seems to be going --

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: Lately the batting hasn't clicked for us and that is something which we have to be concerned about. Firstly against Netherlands to put up 112, we could have done much better, I think, even if we had 15, 20 runs on top. The bowlers would have had some cushion to play with.

The fact that Netherlands were 47 for 1 and 6 overs and down to the last two balls, a lot of credit goes to the bowlers in the game. Today, again, I think the batters could have obviously cashed in. 115 that wicket was quite chasable with the dew coming in, but like there's areas that you have to work on personally.

Q. What you mentioned before, taking a lot of pride reaching the World Cup is an achievement in itself. What are you guys looking to achieve going forward? What's the plans to you personally and the team in the next few years?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: Obviously making the team to be in the World Cup was an achievement in itself. But the main goal was to play the Super 12s. As of now I think, going forward for us, it would be the 2023 World Cup in India. That's what we'll be prepping up for.

Q. Can you talk through each delivery of the hat-trick, your plans and what you were trying to execute and how it came out?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: First up against Rajapaksa, I think the length side was long boundary for him. I thought he would take me down over there because he was -- I think he was 5-on-5, something like that . I started to push it around bowling a long game, and he tried to cover coverage but he sliced it. Straight to Kashaf [phonetic] in the boundary. That was the first one. And then Asalanka walked in. That was a no brainer for me. I was going to bowl around and straight up. Took an amazing catch. And when Dasun walked in, I was going through my emotions of being a hat-trick, but all I wanted to do was bowl in the slumps. And whatever happens after that, it is not in my hands. But again I just bowled around him and I think he picked it as a leg-in, tried to go for coverage. But yeah.

Q. Did anyone come and speak to you before the hat-trick bowl, or did you just stay in your own world, your own bubble?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: No, I was clear with my plans before the hat-trick bowl. And no one came in. But we always have a chat we bowl, the wicket-keeper. We are from the same city, which is we talked in our language, Tamil. We had a conversation before that what I'm going to right when I was in my one up, and I just delivered what I wanted to.

Q. And you talked about your bowling. And would you tell us how you ended up in UAE?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: How long I've been in UAE?

Q. How you ended up in UAE.

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: Mainly because of my dad's work. He moved to UAE back in 2007 and that's how I ended up being in UAE. I started to study over there and continued playing cricket in UAE.

Q. Talking to your wicket-keeper in Tamil, how fun is that?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: That is pretty fun to have someone behind the stumps who talks the same language as you do because that gives you kind of an edge over your opponents and you can communicate in your own language, which is something which is going wild around the past few days from the first game against Netherlands.

And we personally enjoy doing that because I get a lot of help from him behind the stumps. To talk in your own language makes it much easier on the field.

Q. A hat-trick in the World Cup, do you think taking on (indiscernible)?

KARTHIK MEIYAPPAN: That is something that I really don't have up, but I hope they do.