Kolkata: India`s hero of the day Mohammed Shami said that the change of ball helped his cause as the replaced one started swinging much more enabling him to get rid of a set Marlon Samuels and an experienced Denesh Ramdin off successive overs during the opening day of first Test.
"The first ball was softer and I wasn`t able to get a lot of swing with it. But after the ball was changed, it started swinging and reversing. It was a great feeling to bowl with the changed ball as well watch others bowl," Shami told mediapersons after the end of the day`s play.
He has enjoyed a decent success in ODIs but the 23-year-old Bengal-based speedster said that there wasn`t much adjustments that he had to make while switching from the 50-over format to the days version.
"Only the (jersey) colour changes (in Test format). There`s no alteration in basic line and length bowling. There wasn`t any plan as such. My strength lies in line, length and swing. I don`t change my technique as per opponents."
He bowled three West Indies batsmen with lethal in-cutters but the debut wicket of Kieran Powell, will always remain the special one.
"I just did my job. Nothing more than that. But the debut wicket (Kieran Powell) will always remain extra-special for me although all the wickets are equally important.
He further said:"I am always up for challenge. I don`t back off. I get adjusted wherever I feel nice."
Shami said that the senior players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had told him to stick to a plan.
"All the seniors told me to stick to the plan that was chalked out. I did just that," he added.
Son of a farmer, Shami had to come to Kolkata in 2007 to revive his cricketing career as there were not much opportunity in his remote village Sahaspur near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Shami further gave credit to his family and especially mother for backing him to the hilt to pursue cricket.
"Forget cricket, there`s no infrastructure in the place where I belong to. My mother has always backed me. So all the credit goes to my family."
"In my locality, there`s no place for cricket there apart from a school. Hence, they did not play at any level... They backed me and brought me here and I went on to play at the Eden Gardens," he added.
He further said he inherited pace bowling from his family but lack of opportunity in his village was a setback for them.
"I inherited pace bowling from my family -- my father, uncle and elder brother were all pace bowlers. Now my younger brother is also training to become a fast bowler."
Shami said he knew it last evening that he would make his Test debut.
"I knew it since last evening when we had our daily team meeting and it was declared there."
