Harbhajan Singh

Canberra: Harbhajan Singh, who has been in the eye of a storm ever since he stepped on the Australian shores, has said that he draws inspiration from booing and it helps him to perform better on the field. The off-spinner, who was embroiled in a bitter row with Andrew Symonds, told reporters that he’s been working hard on his batting of late.

The following are excerpts

On beating Australia

It’s nice to have a win. It was very important for all of us to play well against Australia.

On team combination

I don’t know about the combination but it would be a winning one. All our players are matchwinners.

On Sri Lanka

We have played Sri Lanka a lot and we know their strengths and weaknesses. We’ve our own strengths, too.

On tackling Muttiah Muralidharan

We played Muralidharan very well in our last clash in Brisbane. He got two early wickets but gave away 50-odd runs.

On Yuvraj Singh’s lack of form

He is a champion player and we are not worried about his form. He has scored many runs for India in difficult situations. It’s just a matter of time before he starts making runs…

On whether India have the momentum

I don’t believe in momentum. I believe in going out there and putting up the best show. Every game is different. It doesn’t matter what Sri Lanka did in their last game.

On his bowling versus Australia on Sunday

I didn’t bowl differently. I bowled according to the situation. It was great to see Ishant (Sharma) and Sreesanth take those early wickets. It becomes easy for a spinner to come and bowl when they are four-five wickets down.

On Ishant Sharma

Ishant has improved a lot from the game versus Pakistan in Bangalore where I saw him first. He is running in, bowling his heart out, bowling in the right areas. He is enjoying a very, very good rhythm.

On giving Ishant a break

He’s just 19 and doesn’t need one right now. He should be looking forward to playing every game.

On mental toughness and Australian crowds

I don’t really mind it when people boo me… It gives me a lot of pleasure that everybody knows me in the ground and are going for me. That inspires me to do well. The more they do it, the harder I play. I don’t hear what they say but the more they do it, the tougher I get.

On youngsters at the forefront of the win versus Australia

We’ve young guys who are raring to go. We wanted to have a good start. Everything went according to the plan. Bowling was up to the mark, fielding was great and so was the batting. We played very well on Sunday and would like to stick to the same sort of rhythm in the next game…

On Brad Haddin’s dismissal

I saw him stepping out to Viru (Virender Sehwag) in the previous over. He stepped out on my first two balls and I saw him trying to step out on my third and bowled it a little faster. Dhoni had no idea but collected it well otherwise it could have gone for four byes.

On being intimidated by Australia

We are not scared of any team. Other teams may be scared of us… Specially me.