The whole of country's heart beat may have stopped for a moment when Misbah-ul Haq's scoop was in the air in the Twenty20 World Cup final.
KOCHI: The whole of country's heart beat may have stopped for a moment when Misbah-ul Haq's scoop was in the air in the Twenty20 World Cup final, but if you believe S Sreesanth, who lapped the victory catch, he had gone blank.
"I was blank. I did not feel anything," Sreesanth said when asked about that catch which sparked a thunderous celebration among the Indian fans.
Sreesanth was accorded a grand welcome on return to his hometown here from Mumbai.
Winning the Twenty20 World Cup was a dream come true for the medium pacer, who attributes his success in the series to hard work and a never say die attitude.
"I feel great. It is an honour to play for the country. It is one of the happiest time," the Kerala bowler said at the airport.
"We never gave up and the hard work paid."
Sreesanth, who was fined for his excessive appealing in the India-Australia semi-final match, said, though he was a bit tense in the finals against Pakistan, he kept his cool.
"If I was warned again, I would have missed the one day in Bangalore and Kochi," he said replying to a query about his lack of aggressiveness in the final match.
On Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, he said he did not find "much of a difference".
He said that luck plays a very important role.
"Whatever the team, my job is to play for the country".
On the team's good performance despite the absence of senior players like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, he said, "they are great players. I started playing seeing Sachin bhai. That is the reason we are playing".
Sreesanth said there was no tension during the tourney.
There was lot of time for relaxation and enjoyment, he said.
On the Sept 29th India-Australia one dayer at Bangalore, Sreesanth, who had taken the crucial wickets of Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden in the semifinal, said the Australians would not "spare him and would come hard on him".
He said he was looking forward to the October 2 one-day at Kochi and hoped rain, which was causing concern to the organisers, would not disrupt play.
Sreesanth's parents Shantakumaran Nair and Shakuntala Devi, Kerala Cricket Association President T R Balakrishnan and Secretary T C Mathew, were among those who received him at the Nedumbasseri airport.
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