Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh termed the Irani Cup match as the "biggest" he could have got in recent times as the off-spinner intends to stage a comeback to the Indian cricket team for the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia.
The 32-year-old is part of the Rest of India team which will take on Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai tomorrow and Harbhajan said he wants to do something special to get picked for the Australian series, starting later this month.
"If I do well, I have a great chance to come back into the Indian side and Australia is coming over, so before the series starts, this was the biggest game I could have got," he told reporters here.
"I want to do something special and be relaxed and look to bowl well rather than running after the wickets. Wickets will come, if not today, tomorrow it will come. My aim is to bowl well, if I do that, I will get the rewards," he added.
The off spinner, who has 408 wickets in his kitty so far in 99 Tests, would join the select 100-Test club of Indian players, containing nine names, if he gets picked for the upcoming home series.
"I am not thinking about the 100th test and so on. I am looking forward for this game and hopefully I have a good game and we do well as a team and go forward from there. I don`t want to think too much ahead, playing 100th test. It will be great if I get picked and it will be a great opportunity to do something special for team India," he said.
The nine Indian cricketers to have played 100 Tests: Sachin Tendulkar (194), Rahul Dravid (163), VVS Laxman (134), Anil Kumble (132), Kapil Dev (131), Sunil Gavaskar (125), Dilip Vengsarkar (116), Sourav Ganguly (113) and Virender Sehwag (102).
Harbhajan further said that sometimes personal milestones put pressure on a player.
"Somewhere it gets to your head, when you are close to 100 Test matches, even when you are batting from 90 to 100, when you have taken four wickets you are looking at taking another to get a five-wicket haul. It does get to your mind. Somewhere as a player you need to stay with the game rather than thinking too much ahead," he said.
"Last year onwards, I have been trying too many things to do, to play my 100th game but when I started playing, I never thought I will come this far.
"I have come this far because I was looking to enjoy the game and am just looking to get back in the whole system of enjoying the game and playing it with lot of passion, and things will start happening for me hopefully again," he said.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 05, 2013, 16:17