Chennai, March 20: It’s not just the ball that reverse swings in Zaheer Khan’s hands – very often, that’s what happens to the outcome of a game when the strike bowler is on song. The left-arm speedster who has been leading India’s attack for quite some time now has recently been lifting the side with his second spell in the middle overs as well.

Against the West Indies he did what he does best - getting breakthroughs and turning the match on its head. The tireless pacer shared his thoughts on the match in a post-game interview.

Excerpts from the conversation.

On the far from convincing start while defending the target

We knew that with the new ball it was always going to be difficult for the bowlers. The ball was supposed to come on to the bat but later on when the ball was old, it wasn’t coming on to the bat. I felt [Ravichandran] Ashwin did a superb job today. When the ball was reverse swinging a little bit, we knew that we would be back in the game.

On his bowling performance

Well, I mean I knew that it was important for the team to get a wicket at that stage (When the West Indies started off confidently). It was very important for the team to defend a decent total which we did today as a bowling unit. I am sure going into the quarter-finals we will be upbeat and confident.

On whether bowling the pacers in the middle overs was part of the team strategy

Yeah, I mean it is important if you are going with a 2-2 [two pacers and two spinners] bowling combination that your seamers are bowling in the middle when the ball is reversing. And that was a planned strategy from our side.

On the dew factor

No, dew was not a problem.

On the confidence of the bowlers

Things are looking good going into the quarter-finals. As a bowling unit we are feeling good.

On playing Australia in the quarters

Yeah, we are really looking forward to playing Australia in the quarter-finals.