An hour and a half before the start of play, Yusuf Pathan occupied one corner of the Eden Gardens. A solo net was in place beside the boundary ropes and one of the members of the team gave him a few throwdowns. Yusuf’s objective in the nets was clear - smack every ball as hard as he could and find that sweet spot of the bat.

He succeeded on most occasions and three hours later when he occupied the crease in the middle, his intentions were no different from that at the nets. While the shots in the nets had no runs written on them, the swing on those 22 yards yielded him 42 that gave the Kolkata Knight Riders’ innings a facelift. From 109/4 in 15 overs, KKR ended up with 171 at the end of 20.

Yusuf occupied the crease till the 19th over and in those five overs he showed why in Yusuf KKR trust. Captain Gautam Gambhir has time and again spoken highly about Yusuf and his match-winning abilities, and how well did he hold his captain true on those lines. There were some shots that had power written all over it and there were a few that had sense and presence of mind laced on them.

But such was Yusuf’s power on some shots that it made one think if it were easy the way he chews his gum with nonchalance. Those long hits are fun to watch and pleasing to the eye, but what goes into the making of those huge hits? How does he manage to put every ounce of his muscle into those shots? Yusuf Pathan answers them in an exclusive chat with iplt20.com.

A 24-ball 42 tonight and a few important unbeaten knocks before this game, how confident do you feel about your batting at the moment? I have been feeling confident about my batting right since the first match of the tournament. I am feeling great while striking the ball. The ball has been coming off the bat really well.

I didn’t get as many opportunities in certain matches but I think I have tried to make use of the opportunities I have got so far. Tonight I had a lot of time to get my eye in and plan my innings properly. The team needed a good amount of runs at the end of 20 overs and I am glad I could play my part in it.

You spoke about planning your innings. What was the thought process when you walked out to bat with KKR three down for 82? We lost vital wickets at the top of the order and my role was to play till the end. I wanted to play till the last over of the match.

I know I can blast my way through the end overs if I get my eye in. The final overs are the ones that give me the license to play as freely as possible. Once I set my eye in, it is not very difficult for me to get big runs towards the end of the innings.

I have immense confidence in myself and I know if I take the attack to the bowlers I can easily get 15 to 16 runs in one over.Do you set yourself small targets or do you work towards a particular target while coming out to bat? Having small targets in your mind was the key. Tonight, I told myself if I could get 10 runs every over in the last five overs, we could still end up getting 50 which would be a good score at the end of 20 overs.

I felt I could achieve that. At the moment, I am taking each ball as it comes and once a particular over is done I forget about it and focus on the next one. If I get enough runs in the first two balls of an over, I try to minimize the risk factor in the rest of the deliveries in that over.

I don’t want to play a rash shot and throw away my wicket. I concentrate on staying as long as possible which will be helpful for the team. How do you manage to get so much power in your shots? Take us through your routine that helps you in power hitting.

There is a lot of effort that goes into playing those big shots and you need to work hard to sustain your game of power hitting. There is a lot of time invested behind those big hits that look good on TV. Being successful in big hitting for me is like starting a business.

You invest a lot of time and put in a lot of effort towards a successful business, and big hitting is just like that.I follow a routine to get those big hits. I try to get the balance of my body right and the flow of my bat in order.

To be successful as a power hitter you need the body balance and the bat flow to go in sync. The body swivel needs to be behind the ball so that I can generate enough power in my shots. These are little things that I have to focus on to get the power behind those shots.

I have been having a lot of conversations with Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram on that front. I am thankful that I have a supportive team management that endorses my style of play and helps me towards its success. Do you make an effort to bridge the gap between power hitting and sensible batting?I don’t practice just the big hitting shots.

There are little basics also that I follow. Little things like keeping the eyes on the ball till the last moment, getting your posture right and getting your feet in the right direction all add up to being successful in your batting overall. You can’t go all out and trust your power to get you through each time.

As a power hitter you also have to learn to be sensible and play according to the situation. Was tonight an example of mixing caution with aggression in your innings?That’s right. Tonight I had to get both aspects of my batting to the fore.

There was a need for me to play sensibly and at the same time go for the big shots when the time came. I had to look for those singles and doubles and at the same time pull out that one big shot that could make the difference in the over. I am glad I could do it, but am disappointed I couldn’t play the final over.

Considering the situation of the tournament how important was the win tonight?This is a very vital win considering the fact that the points table is close. Our rest of the matches are equally important but I feel this win was very important because we had a winning momentum going our way. We had won our previous couple of matches and had to keep that momentum going.

If we can record wins in the games to follow we can try and reach the top two of the points table. Wins will keep us relaxed and allow us to play freely in the remainder of the tournament. .

Source: http://www.iplt20.com/news/2015/features/6615/runs-and-wickets-make-it-pcs-day