It was Aussie pacer Mitchell Johnson who created a record in Sachin Tendulkar’s four-hundredth ODI. The lanky left-arm seamer returned the best figures by an Australian bowler on Indian soil to bag the Man of the Match award. He claimed his career’s first five-wicket haul today, conceding 26 runs, and in the process bettered the earlier best of 9-0-36-5 by Damien Fleming in Mumbai in 1996. “I am very thrilled. This is my first five-for effort. And I am especially happy to achieve that in these conditions. I guess it doesn’t get any better,” said the 26-year-old. His earlier best was 4 for 11 against India in Kuala Lumpur.His first victim on Thursday was Yuvraj Singh. The southpaw edged a short delivery from the bowler while trying a swipe outside the off, and Adam Gilchrist took a low catch. Johnson’s other victims were Robin Uthappa, MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan and Murali Kartik. And obviously Kartik’s wicket being the last, was his “favourite”. Johnson today bowled his quota of 10 overs in two spells, with the first (6-0-19-3) being the most effective. So what was it that he was doing different today? “I was just trying to keep things simple. The ball swung a bit for a while in the morning. I just basically tried to hit on the off and swing it away from left-hander and bring it back to right handers,” said Johnson. The 10-day stint at the MRF Pace Academy in late June-early July this year under former Australian greats Dennis Lillee and Troy Coolie must have come handy today. “The stint was a great help really. I was there during the off season. And it brought be back into my cricket again,” said Johnson. The Queensland player was first spotted by Lillee when he was only 17, and immediately called him a “once in a generation bowler.” But it took another seven years for the bowler to break into the Australian national team. And the bowler is yet to make his Test debut. “He has done everything right. He worked hard to keep himself fit. The stint at the MRF academy did him a world of good. It will be very hard to keep him out of Tests,” said his skipper Ricky Ponting. But the bowler, who looks up to Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath for inspiration, is not looking too ahead into his career. “I don’t want to think too far ahead. I don’t want it to creep into my performance here. I am just thinking of this series, want to keep performing well. I am taking it game by game,” said Johnson.
