Mumbai left short of breath

Chennai: Harbhajan Singh was a disappointed man but felt if conditions had been more favourable his Mumbai Indians team could have got the better of the Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday. Here's more from his interaction with the media.

Excerpts:
On Sachin Tendulkar’s health (after having to retire during his innings due to dehydration): Sachin is obviously better now. It was so hot out there that he felt nauseous and that was one of the main reasons that in that middle period we were unable to build a partnership. Sachin sat out and then youngsters (Saurabh) Tiwary and (Ambati) Rayudu fell one after the other and there were no partnerships. It’s all part of the game but if Sachin could have stayed for the 15 overs then I am sure the story would have been different.

On the youngsters, who had been consistent so far, not performing against CSK: We have to give them a lot of encouragement for doing what they have done. They have done a tremendous job for us, they have won a lot of games for us and it is just one of the games where they didn’t click. We have got a lot of faith in them, they are all very young and exciting cricketers. Whether it’s Rayudu, Tiwary or any other youngster, they have done well for us and I am sure they will do well even in the future. We have got a lot of faith in them. It is just one of the games where they have not clicked - that’s okay, everyone can make mistakes.

On the target of 166 and how chaseable it was: Well I think it was quite a good wicket to bat on, though it was a little on the slower side. Actually from what I have seen in two or three games it looked pretty quick on the TV, but when I was batting there it seemed pretty slow to me. Yeah, maybe they have been playing a lot of games on this wicket, but I think 165 was still a very good bowling effort and we should have got that. But I think Chennai bowled really well, they fielded brilliantly, they played better cricket than us and thumbs up to them. Hopefully we will act together from the next game and be back on the winning streak.

On bowling with the new ball: Well it is very challenging to bowl in the Powerplay, especially in Twenty20. Yes I bowled three overs and you have to take the responsibility as a senior bowler in the team and we had the plan that we will bowl the slower bowlers against Matthew Hayden, we know that he is a very dangerous player when he is in his flow. So we just tried to bowl slower bowlers and I have done well against him and, yeah, it was challenging and I enjoyed it. Luckily it went my way today, otherwise in Twenty20, normally the bowlers are on the receiving end, so God has been kind is all I can say.

On how helpful it is to have an Indian captain: Well, I don’t know, but I am pretty happy with Sachin, he is a good captain and it is great to have a player like him leading the side from the front, scoring a lot of runs and winning a lot of games for us and I am really enjoying each and every moment playing alongside him, with him and under him. That’s all I can say, I have not played under any foreign captain but I am very happy the way it is in Mumbai Indians. In other teams I can’t really comment, sorry.

On the injury to Zaheer Khan: Zaheer is much better than before and all I can say is that he should be ready for the next game. He had a bit of swelling on his knee, his left knee. He got hit on his knee the other day and there was a lot of swelling, it has come down a lot. Hopefully he should be ready for the next game and should be good for us.

On the plans they had against Murali Vijay: Well, to be honest Vijay has been batting really well and it is great to see another youngster performing at this level. The more he performs he will get a lot of confidence out of this and when he will come out to play for India it is a great thing for us to have a player like him in the Indian side. My plan against him was to bowl just as well as I can and look to get him out rather than just bowling the dot balls, because he is the kind of player when he is in he can score a lot of runs in a very short time. So my plan was to bowl to my best ability and if he is good enough he will go for it, if he connects it is okay, I am bowling in the Powerplay. If it’s his day he will hit but it went my way so it was nice.