Mohali, March 30: The only cricketer from either side who has played every World Cup match between India and Pakistan, Sachin Tendulkar played an important role in the semi-final for the hosts. Also the oldest player from either side, the incredible Tendulkar won the Man-of-the Match award for his 85-run knock that helped India set a target of 261 runs.

On receiving his award, the first in the 2011 World Cup, he spoke to the media.

Excerpts from the interview

On receiving the Man-of-the-Match award

Yes, first of all I would like to thank everyone here for terrific support - without that it wouldn’t have been possible, thank you very much. And then not to forget the team’s effort. I thought it was brilliant the way we bowled, the way we fielded was absolutely fabulous.

On his watchful innings

Well, initially Viru [Virender Sehwag] got us off to a flier that gave us a little bit of extra time to just check what’s happening when the wicket slowed down a bit. When the spinners were bowling, I thought it was not easy to score runs, the singles. We just had to play out the overs and make sure that we got to a decent total, a fighting total, and we kept losing wickets which ideally we didn’t want. And then, I felt, overall, towards the end, even [Suresh] Raina played something really special. Those runs really were really important for us.

On whether 260 was a good score considering how the pitch turned out

Well, when we started, I was thinking 310 -315, which was par score according to me. But the way the ball was stopping and coming on [when the] spinners [were on], I thought 265-270 would be a good fighting total.

On playing the World Cup final in his hometown Mumbai

Yes, going back to Mumbai especially for this event, it’s a wonderful occasion and all I want to say is we want to be calm, focus on our job and get the job done.

On having won all five World Cup matches against Pakistan to date

Yes, it’s been memorable [playing] all five matches and something which I will always cherish throughout my life.