Mumbai, April 3: Victorious captain MS Dhoni, who, along with his team, has brought the ICC World Cup back to India, said that the feeling was yet to sink in at the post-match press conference. Engaging in jovial banter with the members of the media, he answered questions with trademark candour and elucidated the decisions that he made during the course of the tournament.

Excerpts from the interview

On what the team did to win the cup

Well, there is no secret about it - whatever we did on the field is no secret. Whatever secret plans we have got will start once we go back to the hotel. As of now everyone is really [too] excited to say anything. We are enjoying the moment right now and once we go back to the hotel, we will be back in our senses and enjoy the evening.

On his face giving nothing away after he hit the winning runs

Emotionally, I was confused. I wanted a wicket [as a souvenir]. I had reached mid-wicket, then I went for [the other] side, then I thought Yuvraj [Singh] was nearer there - he would take the wicket from there, then I came back. [I thought] though hugs, etc. will keep happening later, first let me pick a wicket. So I went back and took the wicket, and by then [Yuvraj] had come and climbed on to me. It was a very lively moment and I was confused and that’s why and I didn’t know what to do at that point of time. So [there were] mixed emotions.

On the Wankhede wicket

Whatever we know about Wankhede [leads us to believe that] generally there is a bit of pace and bounce for the seamers. And as I said, if it doesn’t turn a great deal with two seamers, it becomes a bit difficult to manouevre the bowling attack. If we go with Sree [S Sreesanth], what we may do is, initially maybe we can put pressure on the opposition with the new ball - because their middle-order has not be tested so far in the tournament in a big way - and that was the main reason behind the manouevrability. If I am playing with three seamers and two spinners with a Sachin [Tendulkar] and Suresh Raina in hand, I can always manouevre more with this kind of an attack. But if we are playing two seamers and two spinners and Yuvraj Singh, if one of the seamers doesn’t have a good day, it becomes quite tough to manouevre the bowlers and it may be difficult for me to really put pressure on the opposition.

On the decision to promote himself up the order

It was a difficult one. I will tell you the reasons behind it. Yuvraj [Singh] has been in brilliant form throughout the series, if you see. So promoting [myself] and not getting runs, I knew what question would be [posed] – why did I promote myself, why couldn’t I stay back? If I promoted myself it meant there were two left-hand batsmen after me. If I got out, the side may have been in trouble. But it was an honest decision. I felt Gautam [Gambhir] is batting really well, if I go in right now and if I get to rotate at that time [it might be good for the team]. I didn’t know at that time that there was dew on the field. I have played a lot with [Muttiah] Muralitharan - I know his ‘doosra’ quite well, which he also knows. So I was able to put a bit of pressure on him and I think that really mattered because Gautam and I run well. We don’t take too many risky singles but at the same time we try to convert those one, one and a half runs to two runs, so I think it was an ideal combination. It was a long time after we batted, reminding us of the days when we were batting together against Pakistan in Kenya. We backed each other, we supported each other and we knew if we took the game close enough with one more Powerplay in hand and Yuvraj [Singh] and Suresh Raina to come, definitely we would achieve it even if we needed eight runs an over.

On whether questions about playing one player instead of another – like Sreesanth instead of Ashwin – had been asked after the World Cup win

No one has asked till now but I had to be ready in my mind because in India, you will see that, when you don’t win, you are asked more questions. When you win then whatever has happened has happened well. It was a big decision because you do feel the pressure when you are making decisions like this, but I always back myself. I try [to] take an honest decision and not get influenced by anyone. Of course, even the senior players are there to help me out, but overall what I have done in the past two years or three years is being honest with myself, so it is not biased. I try to take the right decision at the right time.

On his reflections on this achievement and the past few years

I don’t think we are getting enough time because I will be off to Delhi tomorrow to attend one of my friend’s functions - after that we arrive for the IPL which means that there is hardly any time to realise [that] we have won the World Cup. So after that there will be immense pressure of being [in] the IPL side so it will be quite tough. Right now, it is important to enjoy the moment. Right now, the next 17 or 18 hours, we should enjoy [ourselves] because we have achieved something big and we have been through a lot to achieve something that’s this big. So being in the moment is important and getting ready for the IPL. Because swapping channels, you come to a channel that says four days to go [for IPL] and you feel the pressure.

On the spectator support

I think the support was great in the stadium throughout, especially when Gautam and Virat [Kohli’s] partnership was on, every run was applauded. Every run was received as if it was a boundary. Later, when Gautam and I were battling, each and every run was again applauded which gives us a lot of strength. And the little bit of dew that was there on the ground also helped us a bit. Their spinners didn’t get too much turn. So I think it became a bit easy. It was a pressure game but at the same time, few boundaries came. Gautam batted really well, had a good partnership with Virat so I think everyone contributed a little bit. When you share pressure in big matches the work becomes a bit easy.