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Melbourne: Immediately after picking up his first Man of the Match award in an international match — for his figures of four for 38 against Australia at the MCG on Sunday — Ishant told the reporters that he had not done anything different on this day compared to the rest of the tour.
The following are excerpts
On winning his first MoM
I did nothing extra. I was just sticking to the plans we had prepared for each batsman. It was the first time in this one-day series that I was bowling with the new ball, but there was no pressure. I enjoyed the fact that the captain and the seniors had enough belief in me to entrust me with the new ball. They told me to concentrate on bowling well, and testing the batsmen out.
On what did he do after conceding 18 in his second over
I was a little tired and had a stomach ache… (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni came and told me to stick to my plans. He (Dhoni) told me to be myself and to ask myself what I wanted to do. That calmed me down and relaxed me.
On Ponting’s compliment that he’s a dangerous bowler
It feels very good to receive a compliment from my favourite batsman. The plan to Ponting was to keep the ball on the fourth stump, and it worked…
On whether they were jittery after losing three quick wickets
Cricket is a very funny game…things can suddenly change. We were never switched off; we were always switched on. We knew that till the last run was scored, we had to be on our toes.
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