After ripping apart the Delhi Dardevils top-order with a tornado-like opening spell in his maiden Indian Premier League outing, Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar said he had put everything into his bowling and had 'no points to make to anybody'.
"I just wanted to win the game. I have no points to make to anybody," he said.
Facing quite a few controversies for the last few months, Shoaib said "I was stressed but put everything behind me".
The Rawalpindi Express thanked his teammates, coach John Buchanan, captain Sourav Ganguly and team owner Shah Rukh Khan.
"Sharing the dressing room with SRK and Sourav was fantastic. They backed me. And I am really happy to perform. They put faith in me. And I am happy to deliver".
On his performance, Akhtar said "For me, my team is the most important thing. Kolkata is my home team. Eden Gardens is my home ground".
Akhtar said "Whenever I play I give hundred per cent". On whether he had expected success on his first IPL match, he said "I gave my best, thankfully the wickets came".
"It has been four months since I played my last game".
"Things were going the right way. It was a team effort, even the fielding was great."
Ganguly said "He came to the country with lots (of things) happening behind him. But he showed lot of character".
Delhi captain Virender Sehwag, who became Akhtar's first victim, also paid tributes to the fast bowler.
"This is the best spell of Twenty20 bowling I have seen. He is a great bowler".
He, however, denied that the Delhi side was done in by Shoaib's pace. "We are used to pace. We are all international players. I, Gautam (Gambhir), and (Manoj) Tiwary".
Sehwag said "Actually we batted too positively against Shoaib".
Meanwhile, asked bout his youthful exuberance in the field during the day, Akhtar replied tongue-in-cheek "I hope the national selectors are watching".
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