"These people need to go through the records. I have taken wickets outside the sub-continent, in the West Indies and England. I guess some people need a reason to go after me," said Harbhajan Singh.
"But to be honest, I don’t play for them. At the end of the day, I play for my country which is, for me, much bigger than anything else. I feel great whenever I do well for the country," said the Punjab spinner.
"See, I know what it requires to be successful at the highest level. I have taken 330 wickets in Test matches and 200-plus in ODIs. That goes on to show that I know what is required to win matches for the team", he said.
"Those who are sitting in the comfort of their drawing rooms and watching the matches on television better mind their business. They have no business telling me what to do," Harbhajan said.
"Winning the series in New Zealand was highly satisfying. I really enjoyed myself there. I got wickets in the Twenty20 matches and was the highest wicket-taker in both the Test and ODI series. I want to keep performing like this.
"I had to take the responsibility (in Kumble’s absence). When Anil Bhai was around, the workload used to get shared. Now I’m not only the senior-most spinner but also the senior-most bowler in the side and naturally I have lot of responsibilities on my shoulders," he said.
"The team can definitely bank on me for those important runs. If you notice, all my innings so far have come at crucial times. Sometimes it was to save the match and sometimes to build the innings. I’m happy to chip in with the bat and it is high time I should get my hundred in Test cricket," Harbhajan said.
"All of my teammates say ‘you are good enough to score a Test hundred, and more than one hundred’. They only ask me to be more focussed and concentrate on shot selections. If I can improve on those I’ll be getting big runs," Harbhajan said.
"It’s indeed difficult with tailenders but at times, I do get to bat along with someone like (VVS) Laxman or (MS) Dhoni. There were a few chances where I should have got my hundred but I think it will come if I keep working on batting and keep myself in that zone," he said.
"Whenever I score 50-60 important runs, Tendulkar says ‘wish you got a hundred’. "Many times, Sachin has told me that it’s time to get a hundred. Even when I got out after 60 (in Wellington) and came back in the dressing room, he said ‘you should have got hundred. You should have just played more according to the situation there. There was hardly 6-7 overs were left, you should have played on,’" Harbhajan said.
"Sachin and others have got the experience, after all they have scored hundreds so many times. So when they speak, they speak from experience on how to score a hundred.
"I guess I don’t know how to get a hundred because I have not scored one! But hopefully I’ll get a hundred sooner or later. And once I get the first hundred, things would subsequently be easier, for I too would be knowing what it takes to get that," he quipped.