London, July 22: Playing in only the fifth Test match of his career, Praveen Kumar bagged his first ever Test five-for at Lord’s against England exploiting the conditions to the fullest and swinging the ball admirably.

His impressive performance in the absence of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan rightfully earned him bowling honours for the day.

Excerpts from his post-match media–interaction:

On bagging his first Test five-for on his Lord’s debut

I dreamt of playing at Lord’s and doing well and then when Zak [Zaheer Kahn] got injured, the pressure increased. But the weather here is good and there is a good cricketing atmosphere so I just enjoyed it a lot and bowled well. I had not thought about the number of wickets, whether I will get two or four or five.

On whether there was more pressure once Zaheer got injured and whether he received any advice from Zaheer on how to bowl here

It was very simple that one or two bowlers would have to bowl [a greater] number of overs so whatever number of overs I would have to bowl, 35 – 40 overs, [I said to myself] I have to do it and I will do it.

On whether Zaheer had any specific advice on how to swing the bowl, etc.

The ball swings in this weather even if it’s sunny or not. If it’s cloudy it swings a bit more so all I had to do was bowl in the right areas and the wicket helped a bit.

On how he was worked on his bowling

I have not worked or anything on it but it has always been like this, the wrist [movement]. I don’t know much about it. I did what people said, that it should [be] thrown here and the seam should be here, that’s all.

On whether he has a point to prove after finally getting the opportunity to play Test matches

No, nothing like that. All cricketers try to do well when they get the opportunity and so do I.

On the atmosphere in the dressing room and the confidence of the Indian batsmen

All are confident and the pitch is playing well. The weather was good today and hopefully will be the same tomorrow so we can make a good comeback.