Kanpur, Nov 20: Harbhajan Singh today said bowling slower in the air than what he did in the earlier two matches did the trick as he scalped three crucial England wickets to fashion India's win in the third one-dayer here.
Harbhajan claimed the wickets of Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah to tie down the visitors and the off-spinner credited his match-winning performance to a minor adjustment in bowling.
"In the earlier two matches the grounds were smaller than here and I had to attack the wickets. But here I slowed down in the air and it worked. Otherwise there was no change in my bowling," said Harbhajan who returned with figures of three for 32 to win the man of the match award.
"The pitch was slow and a bit turning too. So I was trying to get the purchase from the pitch with minor adjustment. There was no change in bowling style otherwise. I stuck to the basics, concentrated on line and length. I am happy that I helped the team to win," he said.
Harbhajan, who took one wicket each in the earlier two matches, said he was always looking to get wickets and not thinking of containing the England batsmen.
"I was not looking to contain the batsmen, I was looking for wickets. We knew if Pietersen and the likes of Collingwood stayed at the wicket for long they would put up a big score. So I was thinking of removing them. Fortunately I was in the rhythm," said the feisty spinner.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 00:00