Yuvraj on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

New Delhi: Man of the Match Yuvraj Singh on Saturday said it was the slowest one-day wicket he had ever played. Addressing a news conference after guiding India to a six-wicket triumph over Australia, the left-hander said: “Yes, it is the slowest track I have ever played. It was a low wicket and difficult to bat.”

The following are excerpts

His thoughts when he came in to bat

Well, it was a low wicket. My first aim was to get 30 runs. When I got 30, then I looked for more runs. Actually, Mahi (Dhoni) and myself were looking for a 50-run partnership. Once that was achieved, we got better. I think both of us played smart cricket. We did not play lose shots and picked up our runs regularly.

The plan between him and Dhoni while batting

We did not assign any plan to each other. We only played according to the situation.

Comparing Dhoni and Rahul Dravid as batting partners

Mahi is more dashing. Rahul plays in singles and twos and builds up the partnership. He is a very fine player. Dhoni is a great one-day batsman. We just watch him batting. Actually, he deserved the Man of the Match award.

Whether this was his best innings

Not really... I have been through such situations before and scored runs. I also got out. See, it is my duty to go out and play and score runs... Nothing gives me more pleasure than winning a match for the country.

Harbhajan Singh’s bowling

I think he is bowling well. Here, he was good. On this track, it was hard for spinners to get wickets. But he did his job well and with confidence.

On the Indian bowlers

They bowled very well to restrict the Australians to 220. I think our pace bowlers also bowled according to the plan.

Sachin Tendulkar

We have started calling him grandfather! He wants to improve in every game. For him there is no end to getting better. Amazing run he has... I don’t think any player will play for 20 years.

Any plan to celebrate if Sachin gets 17,000 runs in Mohali

(Laughs) How can you plan about someone who breaks a record almost every week. We are tired of making special plans for him.