Hyderabad, Nov 15:Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Monday said that he goes by his instincts while batting and although he always has a base plan he relies more on spontaneity on the field.

In an interview with BCCI.TV, Tendulkar revisited his debut match against Pakistan, spoke about Harbhajan Singh’s batting ability and much more.

Excerpts of the interview:

On November 15, the date, when he made his debut against Pakistan 21 years ago:

Yes, it is vague memory because I don’t clearly remember what was happening when I was walking into bat in the middle. We had lost four wickets and the whole stadium was really really loud- the thing that you don’t experience in domestic cricket. And then again playing against the world class attack of Imran [Khan], Wasim [Akram], Waqar [Younis] and Abdul Qadir was really special. I didn’t stay there long enough but that memory is still vague. The experience of walking into the middle 21 years ago and the last 21 years have been extremely joyful. I have really enjoyed.

On planning his innings for a match:

You do plan a bit but not always everything goes according to your plan. I feel spontaneity is really important. I try and leave everything to my instincts and let my natural instincts take over. So basically I react to whatever comes to me. I don’t specifically plan. You normally analyse the situation and then decide how are you going to go about it- like when to attack and when to slow down. There is no specific plan as such. You can have your base plan ready but you can’t have the whole book ready, may be a couple of pages ready and as and when you turn the pages you need to read the pages and play accordingly.

On media hype on the possibility of him scoring the 50th Test century:

I don’t open the newspapers. You can ask the security outside my room, the papers are lying outside the room. I don’t touch them. I think there is more to Test cricket than just the number 50. I just want to keep my focus on playing as well as possible and making sure that we win the series. I think that is more important.

On Virender Sehwag-Gautam Gambhir leading the batting line-up:

I think they both are world-class players and both have done really well. To give consistently big partnerships is critical. I would also like to add that the middle order too- No. 3, 4, 5, 6 they have all contributed. And now No. 11 also, Sreesanth made a decent effort in Hyderabad and also in the Test match against Australia – Ishant Sharma chipped in.

On Harbhajan Singh coming good with the bat:

I have always maintained that. I have always told him that how come you have taken such a long time to score a Test hundred. He is talented and he is capable of getting those hundreds. He is gifted with some serious power.

On Gary Kirsten’s term as coach:

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Gary. You know, he works really hard and makes sure that all the batters have faced plenty of balls in the practice sessions. The intensity in the net sessions is fabulous. I think that is something which has made a huge difference to the batting line-up.

On India’s chances of winning the Hyderabad Test

Yeah, I think we have done that in the past. The recent past has been really nice. I can’t see any reason why we can’t do it tomorrow. I know that New Zealand are here to fight and they are not going to give in that easily. We will have to really put up a good fight and keep the pressure on.

On Brendon McCullum’s century:

I thought when the ball was coming onto the bat, his bat swing was very free. And later on when one needed a bit of application he was prepared to do that, he cleverly slowed down the game. And he looked in total control today.

On New Zealand’s performance in the serie:

I think they have really played well and credit to them. I feel at the international level every side is there to compete but I still think that we can actually pull it off from here.