I enjoy playing against India: Mitchell Johnson

Dennis Lillee called him a "once in a generation bowler". Mitchell Johnson is Australia's new pace sensation and has marked his presence on the big stage. After McGrath's retirement, he has been a regular fixture in the Australian team and has the armoury to trouble the world's best batsmen. He is a rare commodity in Australian cricket: a left-armer with genuine pace and the ability to swing the ball. Mukesh Kumar talks to the rookie pacer.

Your best ever Test performance came recently against the West Indies team in the third Test match. Are you happy with the way things have gone so far?

Ya! I am happy with the way things have gone so far. I guess the start of the West Indies tour wasn't going the way I was expecting it to go. I felt I put myself under pressure to get wickets but in the game where I picked up four wickets, I was more relaxed and just went out there and enjoyed myself. It was pretty exciting as the game was balanced and the quick wickets helped to bring the momentum back to our team. I am happy to have done my job successfully for the team.

The great fast-bowler Dennis Lillee identified you as a "once-in-a-lifetime" prospect and asked Rod Marsh to help you join the Australian Cricket Academy. It must be the turning point in your career?

I would not call it as a turning point as I was only 17 years of age when I was first picked up. It was a big breakthrough for me as a youngster to have a legend of the game to pass a comment like that but I think it also put a little bit of pressure on me to perform. For the last couple of seasons I have actually started to perform and hopefully I will live up to Dennis' comments one day and make Australia and myself proud.

Is it true that you wanted to make it big in tennis and not cricket during your teenage years and and you also drove delivery trucks?

Ya! I drove delivery trucks because I had lost my contract for Queensland team and then I worked my way back to club cricket in Australia. I had to work hard to get back in to the Queensland side. It was a tough time and a very good one for me as well. In a way it took my focus off cricket and I could do something other than cricket. It was a big step towards where I am now today. Tennis was something that I wanted to play when I was younger and it was my dream to go to Wimbledon but I have also had the dream of playing cricket for Australia.

After McGrath's retirement, Brett Lee has spearheaded the Australian attack. How does it feel to share the attack with Lee?

It's an awesome feeling to bowl with Brett. We have often spoken about bowling together on the Boxing Day. Opening the bowling for Australia is amazing. You run out there knowing that Brett Lee at the other end is bowling fast and short and its my turn to bowl in front of 80 to 90 thousand people, is something that I want to continue doing for a long time. Hopefully, I will get more opportunities and would love to bowl with him.

You figure both in the Australian Test and ODI attack. How have you evolved as a player over the years.

I guess, I am getting more experienced playing at this level. I have been able to play with some competitive teams like India and Sri Lanka. Playing against Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sangakkara gave me the confidence that I can bowl to these players and get them out. It's been a wonderful experience for me to play against such strong teams and I just want to do my best at this level and keep improving while I am playing.

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