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 He annoyed Anil, Bhajji and all of us
 Mumbai,
Oct 21: Paceman Jason Gillespie had made extra efforts through an
extended practice session with the bat after the third day's play
which paid him and Australia rich dividends the following day in
the drawn second Test against India at Chennai. Revealing this
here to reporters, the Aussie paceman, who got involved in a
match-saving 139-run record stand for the fifth wicket with Damien
Martyn who notched his first ton of the tour, said he thoroughly
enjoyed frustrating India's Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh with
the bat.
" It's
(batting effort) certainly way up there (in my career). We were
sort of on the back foot when we started day four. At the end of
day three, I had very good net practice. I tried to bat very
straight and tried watching the ball very closely," Gillespie
said. Gillespie, his pace partner Glenn McGrath and middle order
batsman Darren Lehmann visited pubs, cafes and discos in and
around south Mumbai as part of a three-hour promotional campaign
for Foster's last night. Gillespie, who joined Martyn as night
watchman just before close of play on day three at the fall of
stand-in Australian captain Adam Gilchrist's wicket, had
frustrated the Indian attack for close to two entire sessions the
next day.
 "It
was tough out there. I was intent on occupying the crease. I was
fortunate enough to have an extremely good player in Martyn at the
other end. I think I annoyed the hell out of Anil and Harbhajan.
That's part of the fun of playing Test cricket," he said.
"I was lucky enough not to get out against two of the best
bowlers on the planet on a turning pitch," he added. The
partnership between Martyn and Gillespie had helped Australia
scrape invaluable runs and set a target of over 220 runs for India
to get which looked out of reach when they came together at the
end of day three.
 Asked
about bowling on the slow pitches of India, the 29-yar-old
Sydney-born South Australian bowler said it was a huge challenge
for every fast bowler to bowl on these wickets and it was part and
parcel of anyone's career. "On these pitches which are
batsmen-friendly the new ball doesn't remain new for long. It gets
old pretty fast. But, as a fast bowler, you should learn to bowl
with the old ball. You have to work hard. and need to enjoy it and
the challenge that goes with it," he said. "Glenn
McGrath enjoys bowling in India. His record here is very good.
It's difficult if you think it's going to be difficult and leave
it at that. But if you set your mind to do well, you can succeed
if you can work hard," the gangling pace bowler said.
Gillespie, who
has taken 213 wickets in 56 Tests, said he was happy to see Test
cricket attracting so much interest in India which, he felt, was
absent in the recent past because of the attraction of one-day
cricket. "It's great to see Indian public embracing Test
cricket a lot more than before when they were more interested in
one-day cricket. It's a fantastic form of cricket with so many
twists and turns over five days," he said. (Agencies)
Published:
Thursday, October 21, 2004
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