'No Point Counting Your Wickets'

Harbhajan Singh, who says he's loving being away from controversy on the field, took the first three wickets in Australia's second innings at Mohali. A fourth would have got him into the 300-wicket club, but he's not worried-- he says if you bowl with discipline, and if you play for so long, records will be yours over time.

You got the first three wickets in the second innings in Mohali after a very aggressive start by Matthew Hayden and Simon Katich. What was the plan when you came on?

The plan was simple -- take the wickets. They had got off to a very good start, but we were not worried. We were confident about winning the game, not worried that it was a flat wicket, and not concerned about how we'd get them out on such a track.

They had a massive target -- well over 500 runs -- to get to win. That gives confidence to a bowler, right?

When you have runs on the board, you're very positive and confident, and if you have so much time too, the plan is to basically get the wickets and win the game. We just needed to be disciplined in our bowling. We knew we had to be patient on this track because it was still playing very well.

You remained confident despite their blazing start?

We displayed great intensity, even when they got off to a great start. There was a time when we went for a lot of runs early in their innings. There were a lot of boundaries and they got around 50 runs in no time. Then, at that stage, we had to keep our cool, bowl a disciplined line and length. We knew that it was just a matter of one wicket. We're all good bowlers, good enough to create and take our chances, and we knew we'd create chances.

Then you got two wickets in your first over…

Yes, then I got in to bowl and luckily, I got a wicket off the second ball. And then I got Katich too, so it was a great start for me personally. That's what the captain wanted of me then and happily, I managed to get the two early wickets.

After that, Michael Hussey's wicket must have been very thrilling…

Yup, next over, I came back and got Michael Hussey out -- that was a crucial wicket. He's one batsman who can bat for long periods, with amazing patience, and he was in form as well. He can play for a long time, he can just be there for long periods, as he showed inBangalore.

Some good bowling by our new-ball bowlers in the game overall?

Right, Zaheer and Ishant were fantastic. Ishant is a very promising youngster and I'm sure if he works hard on his fitness, on his game, he'll become a very, very good bowler. He's already good, though. It's great to see Ishant playing for India so early, and it'll be fantastic if he plays for a very long time.

There was some chatter in the middle, an intense game?

I want to just stay away from all those things! I can't afford to do that, I can't afford to take the focus away from my game. I'm very calm, and I'm concentrating better.

You're on 299 wickets now, will probably reach 300 in Delhi...

I'm really happy that I'm so close to that landmark, but it was not to happen in Chandigarh. Not really worried about that, buddy… No point counting your wickets, I'd be happy if I get two or three and India wins.