Bhajji attributes five-wicket success to patience

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Basseterre, St Kitts, June 25 (UNI) After being ignored for the first two Tests, Harbhajan Singh returned to Team India with a five-wicket haul and attributed the success to his patience, which helped him get over the initial assault by the West Indian batsmen.

The off spinner came back strongly here to claim five wicket haul in the first innings but was hit for 42 runs in his first spell of six overs.

''I improved on the line and length that I bowled yesterday. In my first spell the length was short and I gave away 42 runs in six overs only. Today I tried to put the ball in right areas and was rewarded. There is not much turn though and I am happy for my bowling today,'' Harbhajan said after the day's play.

Harbhajan also said it was one of the most flat wickets he had seen where batting was very easy.

''The pitch was reminding me of Lahore. On this pitch I tried to bowl the right line and length and let the batsmen make the mistake.

It was important to be patient and keep working hard. I kept talking to myself that this is where I want to pitch even when I was hit.

One has to be brave enough to hit right length, give some air to ball and be patient with right line and length on these kind of wickets,'' he said on his strategy while bowling.

Harbhajan admitted that he was baffled by the West Indies ploy of batting slow.

''We were surprised by their approach. We didn't knew what their game plan was, whether they wanted result or were playing for draw.

But we were happy to keep it tight. If they would have scored fast, they could have reached 600 or 650 and put us under pressure,'' said Harbhajan.

Meanwhile, West Indies skipper Brian Lara defended his strategy and said the team was first learning to draw the matches and then push for victories.

''We wanted to bat at least half of the day, try to get in at least fifty overs for the Indians later on. And we did that, the guys batted really well. Of course, we were a bit slow before lunch but picked up the tempo after that. I think we are in a position where there's going to be only one winner.

''We need to start to learn to draw Test matches before we start to get to the other side of the success sheet. We'll definitely take the two draws so far, we weren't in winning positions. If we do get into a winning position tomorrow, we're definitely going to be pressing for it,'' said Lara.

UNI XC PM RAI1358

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