Australia's pace spearhead Peter Siddle is relieved to scalp a maiden five-wicket haul against India, saying the hard work he has put in this summer has finally paid off.
Siddle claimed five wickets for the first time in an innings against India during third day of the fourth and final Test in Adelaide on Thursday, and termed it as one of his better performances.
"It's probably one of my better ones I think. All summer my goal's been patience and consistency and I think I've been doing that and going pretty well. But today it was a bit of a relief to get that haul and a reward for a summer that has been pretty good," said Siddle, who took five for 49 in
India's first innings score of 272.
"The pressure we built up again today and the way we bowled together as a unit just shows the patience we're using. Someone's lucky enough to get the rewards, and at the end of the day it was me.
'Getting Gambhir was a nice reward on a wicket that's hard to bowl on'
"Billy (Craig McDermott, the bowling coach) kept saying to me the haul was around the corner," he said.
"The hard work I've put in the last six or seven months, this summer it's just all come together. I'm not getting too overawed with what I have done earlier in the summer," the speedster added.
Siddle began the day with the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar (25), for the third time in this series. He followed it up with Gautam Gambhir's wicket and the fast bowler was quick to take a snide at the left-handed Indian opener.
"I guess Gambhir thought I had the luck of the green wickets, but I guess there wasn't much bounce in this wicket today and it seemed to get him out. So it was a nice little reward on a wicket that's pretty hard to bowl on," Siddle said.
Siddle was brought in as first change after Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris, who had hardly allowed the Indian batsmen to get off their blocks this morning.'We were trying to tell Kohli you don't have to throw your wicket away'
"Ben and Ryan this morning bowled superbly. They bowled great together, back-to-back maidens, and they just built the pressure up," he insisted.
"I've been pretty lucky this summer I've been on the back-end of a lot of that. I have been lucky to come on in the first over and get the wicket because the change has caught the batsman and I've got the wicket."
Siddle also recounted Virat Kohli's verbal spat with Hilfenhaus when he was on 99 and had just survived a run out chance.
"The bloke (Kohli) who had batted well to get to 99 and looked to really run himself out was just ridiculous. That's what we were trying to tell him. We were trying to tell him you don't have to throw your wicket away having worked so hard," Siddle said, tongue firmly in cheek.'Kohli's a tough competitor and he shows that'
He also praised Kohli (116) for registering his maiden Test century and said the young Indian batsman is a "tough competitor" on the field.
"In his last three innings he's got runs and he's looked good out there. He's showed in One-day cricket that he can make centuries and he can win games for his team. He's a very good player, and one who's going to be a bright spark for India in the future," Siddle said.
"He's a tough competitor and he's shown that. He goes out there, he digs in, has a bit of a chirp in the field, but he digs in when he's got the bat in his hand.
"That's the way Australia has played the game in the past and that's the way we like to play it. It's good fun, a good contest, I like coming up against him. It's a nice challenge to have him out there, and that's what people want to watch in Test cricket," Siddle further added.'There's still plenty of time left now'
It was also argued that the Australian bowlers didn't bounce Kohli enough during the early phase of his innings, but Siddle begs to differ.
"We've got our plans and they've worked. You can't bowl teams out for 150 every time. It is going to take time, and if you looked at his first four innings how we got him out nicking the ball outside off stump, it showed our plans worked," he insisted.
Australia captain Michael Clarke refused to enforce the follow-on on India even after securing a 332-run first innings lead, and Siddle feels it was a wise decision as they don't to bat last on this surface.
"The Adelaide wicket is one you don't want to be batting last, so we didn't think too much about that. It was just a matter of batting for a bit of time, getting a bit of time into the game but also trying to get some runs and bat them out of the game. There's still plenty of time left now."
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