Nagpur, Nov 23: Coming good with both the ball and the ball was enough for Harbhajan Singh to be named the Man of the Series for the three-match Test series against New Zealand. Bhajji became the first No. 8 batsman to score two consecutive Test hundreds and his bowling on the 4th Day of the Nagpur Test revealed his potency as a finger spinner.

Talking to BCCI.TV, Harbhajan said that he was satisfied with his performance with the bat but failed to match up to his own standards with the ball.

Excerpts:

On being the Man of the Series:

Well it has been a satisfying series with the bat but I would have liked a few more wickets in my tally but I am happy that we have won the series. I am looking forward for the next series now.

On the Nagpur track:

Well this is what we call an Indian wicket. I remember we used to play on good wickets where they had something for the bowlers. If you are a good bowler you can get wickets, if you are a good batsman you can get runs. I think this is probably the best wicket I have played on for the last many years. I would like to congratulate all my teammates – they batted well, bowled well and we all fielded well. And we got the result we were looking for.

On his bowling performance in the Test series:

I think I bowled well. I can’t say that I could have bowled better in the series. It is just that the tally is low compared to my standards. I would have been happy with 15-16 wickets in the series. I am still happy that we have won the series.

On Ishant Sharma:

Ishant bowled really well. And the part-timers like Suresh Raina also chipped in. It was a good performance by every one. It is nice to see the young guns coming in and chipping in. Ishant got some wickets in the first innings and even in the second he bowled pretty well. It is great to see him running in and bowling quick even on these wickets. There was nothing much happening for the bowlers on these wickets. Great show by him and we are going to South Africa and we need him to be in good rhythm and hopefully he can contribute more in South Africa.

On the upcoming South Africa challenge:

Well, definitely South Africa is going to be very challenging. We know it is not going to be easy out there. We have to play much better cricket than what we have played in this series. I am sure that with our talent and with our capability if we play to our potential then definitely we are going to win in South Africa. We just need to back ourselves and give it our best shot.