Brisbane: Gautam Gambhir’s third one-day hundred counted for very little as rain forced the tri-series match against Sri Lanka to be abandoned on Tuesday. At a press conference, he felt India should have returned from the Gabba with eight points in their kitty.

The following are excerpts

On the two matches so far

I thought we had a very good chance of beating Australia the other night. They were three down for 50 and the ball was doing a lot… Today too, we had the runs on the board and if we had picked up a couple of early wickets, we would have been on top. I personally feel we were unfortunate with the weather… We could have won both games.

On his hundred

To get a hundred is always special, especially overseas, and that too in Australia. To do it in this kind of a situation, when the team needs you to deliver makes it more enjoyable. When you come to a place like Australia, to conditions you aren’t used to, there always a question mark over your technique. Once you succeed here, you know you have it in you to handle situations. This knock has given me a lot of confidence. If I continue in the same form, it will be very good for me and the team.

On batting at No. 3

I am always comfortable batting at No. 3 and playing long innings. If an early wicket falls, you have the time to anchor the innings, and if we are off to a good start, I can come in and play my natural attacking game. I am capable of doing both roles. I am really enjoying the No. 3 position.

On his own batting

It’s time for me to take responsibility, to stand up and deliver when the team needs you. Today I had the time to play myself in and pace my innings. The game plan was to have wickets in hand till the 40th over. We had lost four for 80-odd, and it was important for Dhoni and me to have a partnership. We decided that we would accept whatever was the score at the end of 40 overs, but we must have wickets in hand.

On the partnership with Dhoni

The grounds here are very big, and you need to run hard to convert ones into twos and so on... Dhoni and I discussed it a lot. We were aware that if we could keep rotating the strike, we could have a decent score on the board.

On what matters most

The century was never on my mind…What matters to me is that the team must win. There is no happiness if you make a hundred and the team loses. Contributing to the team’s win gives you much more happiness.

On the lessons learnt from the first match against Australia

I saw the video from the previous match and noticed that I was playing across the line. I worked in the nets with Robin Singh and played a lot straighter today.

On facing Muttiah Muralidharan

I must admit I had no clue to what he was bowling. He was all over me, I wasn’t able to pick him up initially.

On Sachin Tendulkar’s 16,000 runs

I am nobody to speak about him. He is the greatest batsman India has ever produced. Only a genius can achieve such things.

On his discussion with Tendulkar

The things I discussed with Tendulkar were not on the technical part. He was telling what role each player should look to have for himself…