Mumbai, Dec 8: With four wins and a draw under their belt, Punjab are atop Group A with 29 points. No other team from any of the three groups has so far enjoyed the kind of success as the side from North in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2012-13 season. With the return of captain Harbhajan Singh to the side ahead of the all-important game against Mumbai the side has received the necessary boost as they face off against the 39-time champions at the Wankhede Stadium.

While speaking to the media ahead of the match, Harbhajan attributed the success of his side to the responsible performances by the youngsters in the team and said that he expects a good contest between the two teams.

Excerpts from his media interaction:

On the match against Mumbai

It’s an important game for us. Punjab has played excellent cricket so far. I played the first game against Hyderabad and then joined the India squad. But the team has carried on the good work, so it feels nice to have joined them for a crucial game against Mumbai. It’s going to be an exciting game. Both teams are in good form and Mumbai have always been a very competitive team wherever you play them. We are just hoping to continue to do the good work as a team.

Obviously, in the Ranji Trophy competition, Mumbai is a very strong side. They have won the title for many years and many times. We’ve come here to play some good cricket. We’ve got a very young and exciting side, which has done really well in the last four games. We would like to continue doing what we have been doing and what has worked for us. We would like to stick to that and play another good game of cricket and hopefully by doing that, we will get what we want out of this game.

On the Punjab team

What has clicked is all the people have taken responsibility in whatever role they’ve been given. It’s very exciting to see the youngsters doing so well like Jiwanjot Singh, who scored a double hundred in his first game and continued to score a lot of runs for Punjab. Apart from that, all our three seamers have been picking lots and lots of wickets. Though we have been playing in Mohali where the ball swings and seams a lot, still they have bowled out a team much more times than the other teams who have played in Mohali. We’re playing well as a unit and touch wood we’ll continue to do that tomorrow and hopefully for the rest of the season. And hopefully we’ll do better than what we had done the last year. Don’t want to set goals of winning the title. It’s still very far. We just want to continue to process and doing right things the way we have been doing.

On what has worked for the Punjab team

It’s not about being aggressive. It’s about taking responsibility, I feel. Though the guys are very young, people have taken responsibility. The guys are very young. They are only 20, 21 and 22 but they have shown they are mature. They have scored lots of runs in Under-19s. Sandeep Sharma, has taken a lot of wickets in Under-19s, he has shown a lot of promise and has taken 30-odd wickets in just five games. It’s great sign for him and for Punjab that youngsters are doing well, putting their hands up for the team. Siddarth Kaul has done well. Manpreet Gony has been tremendous for us. And batsmen – Jiwanjot, Uday Kaul, Mandeep Singh – they have been very good and just hope they continue the good show.

They’ve been playing freely. It’s a bit challenging for us after doing well in Mohali where the bounce is slightly less than what you get here in Mumbai. Doing well in Mumbai is always good. As I said, Mumbai have always been a strong side, so scoring runs and picking wickets here will definitely boost their confidence in going to the next level and obviously will be a great platform for the to perform.

On coming back into the Ranji team

I just wanted to come back and play some game. It’s important to be in touch. In Kolkata, the sun goes down so quickly. By 4 o’clock it’s very dark, so you don’t get any practice if you’re sitting out. It’s good to be coming over and bowling a few overs before I join the team in Nagpur. It’ll be good to bowl few overs, pick some wickets and score runs, hopefully, and join team again for the last Test

On the wicket

We played the Test on the adjoining strip. But Mumbai wicket always offers everything. There’s seam movement, it’s a good track to bat on once you’re in and there’s a spin on offer as well. So it’s going to be a good contest. Hopefully we will play well and get what we want out of this game.