Harbhajan craves for 2011 World Cup

Harbhajan craves for 2011 World Cup

Feisty off-spinner Harbhajan Singh now craves for 2011 ODI World Cup glory to complete a career treble.

The seniormost bowler in the side, Harbhajan has been a key member of the team that won the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and did his bit to help India become the number one Test side in the world after their 2-0 win over Sri Lanka in the recent home series.

Looking ahead, the 29-year-old spinner said, winning the 2011 would be the icing on the cake.

"We've won the Twenty20 World Cup, we are the number one Test side and now if we can win the 2011 World Cup, that would be a great thing for Indian cricket and all of us who will be part of that triumphant squad," Harbhajan told PTI.

"I will be on top of the world if it happens," added the spinner who played a stellar role in India's recent ascent.

"It would have been nice if we could win the 50-over cricket World Cup in 2003. We could not win it but I have great memories of that tournament (where India reached final) of playing some really great matches along with some great players. It will be very exciting if we can win the 2011 World Cup," the Punjab spinner said.

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At the same time, Harbhajan insists it would be far from a stroll in the park.

"It would require special efforts and special performance and that would add on to team's success. I will be very happy if we can achieve that. It would be very satisfying," said country's most successful off-spinner, who has been rested for the two Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka.

Overall, it has been exciting times for Indian cricket with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men recording their 100th Test win against Sri Lanka in Kanpur and following it with the triumph in Mumbai that made them the number one Test team in the world.

Harbhajan said the milestones did not come overnight and lot of toil went behind it.

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"Obviously it is exciting time for Indian cricket. We have all worked very hard for this occasion and we are really happy wherever we are right now today.

"I think every one in the team contributed. Bowlers regularly took wickets, batsmen scored truckload of runs. We had it in our mind for a while and it's great to be number one.

"Personally speaking, I've contributed whenever the team required and I'm really proud to be part of this squad," Harbhajan added.

The consensus is India would have to work harder to retain their number one spot in Test rankings in the limited opportunities they have. Harbhajan, however, sees it from a different angle.

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According to Harbhajan, India just needed to maintain the standard and not put themselves under unnecessary pressure thinking about rankings.

"When you play for country, you always work hard and want to win every game. We don't really want to get into that pressure zone, thinking we have to do this and that to remain the number one spot.

"I know if we can play to our potentials, we can win a lot of games and results would then take care of itself. We just look to do whatever we are doing, rather than focussing on result. Look to play well, work hard, try to improve every game and be happy with whatever result you get," he explained.

 


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