Hunger to retain No 1 spot motivated team: Harbhajan

Kolkata, Feb 18(ANI): Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who took five wickets as India sealed a dramatic innings and 58-run victory on South Africa in Kolkata Test on Thursday, said the hunger to retain the No.1 spot motivated the entire team to give their best.

"We wanted to be at the top of the table, we know we got the players to keep being No 1. We are very happy and it's fantastic to win the way we did. The heart was pumping in the end," Harbhajan said.

Having already lost over a day to rain and bad light, Team India had suffered another blow before play resumed as spearhead Zaheer Khan was forced to sit out of the final three sessions due to a muscle strain in his leg, suffered during play on Wednesday.

However, Harbhajan took charge of the bowling department to finish with five wickets for 59 runs.

He also praised the performance of his fellow bowlers including leg-spinner Amit Mihsra (3-78) and fast bowler Ishant Sharma (2-) as they bowled out South Africa for 289 in their second innings.

"This was probably a better wicket than Nagpur. We played fantastic cricket, the way we bowled on the first day and the way we batted. Today we just bowled with three bowlers, but have done the job," he said. (ANI)