You are slated to receive the Polly Umrigar Award, India’s cricket’s top honour, in December...
I’m touched, for it’s truly a great honour. As a sportsman, you toil everyday to stay fit and deliver at the top. You feel nice that your efforts have been recognised. It makes you push yourself that much harder.
What’s the update on your rehab after the injury in England?
I’d been working extremely hard at the National Cricket Academy. I want to get my core muscles stronger. It’s so unfortunate that I hurt my ankle in England; I could feel the strain on landing at the crease. But I felt extremely good about my bowling in the domestic Twenty20 matches (for Delhi, see box). I thought I was getting somewhere close to my best. Viru bhai (Virender Sehwag), too, played these matches. He kept egging me on; it was so much fun training with him and spending time together.
You said you might undergo an ankle surgery only after the tour of Australia next year. Is it too much of a risk given that you’ve a long season ahead?
It’s not that I feel the need for a surgery at the moment. If the surgery was necessary, I wouldn’t have waited. I’m not the one who takes the body casually. I’ve responded well to my rehab and I’m absolutely ready to cope with the rigours of a long season.
In a certain context, you said you’d never be a swing bowler. Will you always hold that view?
I accept that I will never be a swing bowler. Bounce will always be my strength. I’m primarily a seam bowler who hits the deck hard and gets the ball to rear up. When you are playing at the top level, you need to know what you are good at. There’s no point being what you are not, for then, you forget why you’re here in the first place.
In the West Indies, you looked almost unplayable. How different was the challenge in England?
The wickets in the West Indies were very helpful for my kind of bowling. The experience was different in England. It was a tough tour as some of the tracks were on the flatter side. It appeared as though the surfaces were changing every session. The wickets were fresh in the morning when we would get considerable swing. In the second session and later in the evening, the tracks would somehow lose zing and would be a lot flatter. Again, the swing would return with the new ball. I’d to learn and adapt quickly.
In the Lord’s Test, you apologised to the nation saying that you didn’t bowl well.
That’s the way I am. In sport, it’s your attitude that matters. I want to be honest; if I know I haven’t delivered, there is no point hiding it.
Within a few months, you’ll be touring Down Under. You’ve special memories of Australia.
I was an unknown commodity before the tour of Australia in 2008. No one quite knew what to expect of me. I’ve fond memories of that tour where all I wanted to do was bowl my heart out and give 100 per cent. The spell to Ricky Ponting at Perth may have been the best I’ve ever bowled. I could sustain the rhythm in the CB series too. That’s when people started to notice me and believed that I’ve the quality to do well at this level.
Let’s add the Galle Test too (Sri Lanka 2008) where you were outstanding.
You never know, I could still have many more Tests like that. It all comes down to your rhythm and, as I said earlier, how well you are hitting the right areas. Rhythm and consistency, when you get the two aspects right, everything about your bowling looks good.
