Brisbane, Mar 5 A confidence personified Harbhajan Singh today said he was "mentally tough" than the Australian team and that all the controversies, which surrounded him during the ill-tempered tour, made him "strong".

"I was too mentally tough for the Australians," the cock-a-hoop Harbhajan told The Daily Telegraph before leaving for India.

The Indian off-spinner insisted that crowd abuse and sledging from the Australians backfired, as it fired him up for better performance.

"None of it bothered me. There were a lot of unnecessary things spoken. It just made me stronger. I love challenges and though people were booing me, I tried to ignore it," he said.

Singh, who played a part in India's tri-series triumph by putting breaks on Aussie run-flow by providing breakthroughs, said the current crop of India cricketers had it in them to make the Indian team numero uno in World.

"I was proud of the way our team played and I believe we have the potential to be No.1 side in the world," he said.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had also commended Harbhajan for standing up to the pressure.

"As a captain it helped me. More controversies and he became more determined. He is an aggressive, expressive player - someone who fights hard and wins the game.

Dhoni also criticised the Australian media for their unrelenting attempt to pin down Harbhajan Singh all summer.

"The backlash worked for us. After sometime we got used to it. We knew everyday we open the newspaper there would be something," Dhoni had said after India beat the Australians by nine runs to win the best-of-three finals by a 2-0 margin. (Agencies)