Win in Sri Lanka was a huge boost - Martyn

Damien Martyn is often called an artist with the bat, but, as he showed once again with a memorable hundred at Chennai, he is also superb at soaking pressure, playing according to the needs of the team, and adapting to different conditions. Nagraj Gollapudi spoke to him during the team media conference on the eve of the series against India.

Let's go back to the Test series in Sri Lanka. Scoring two centuries in three matches must have been heartening after a lean patch?
It wasn't a lean patch, I just hadn't made a hundred and that kept harping on me. So it was good to perform and see the team win the series. It was good playing the best bowler of spin [Muttiah Muralitharan], and it was a great team effort. Basically we used our feet well against him and the others and that paid off. That series has boosted our confidence and we know we are in for some tough conditions [in India].

It has been more than a decade since your international debut. Can you talk about the various important phases in your career?
You change, your batting changes and your mindset changes. You feel much more comfortable at 32 than when you were 21 playing at this level; you are more experienced, you know how to prepare, how to go about your career. Your batting just evolves - it becomes tighter, you play the conditions better, you are just a smarter batsman. When you are young I don't think you understand that at all.

You are a stylish batsman, but not extravagant. How did you hone this fine art as you were growing up?
It's just natural. All of us just bat in a different way and as a kid you bat in a certain way and bowl in a certain way, and you are stuck with that for the rest of your life. You hone the basic technique of getting the foot to the ball, playing with a straight bat and then your natural stuff comes in and from there you develop your own game.

At heart are you an aggressive batsman?
All of us in Australian cricket want to be aggressive and score in a certain way, but it depends on conditions. I mean, like in India, it's very hard to sometimes bat that way. It just depends on how the game goes, and you adjust accordingly.

Which have been your best knocks?
My hundreds in Sri Lanka were one of the best because batting in those tough conditions and playing Murali is always hard.

How do you handle the pressure when you go out to bat?
It is very hard to exactly talk about the mental process, but the most important one is stay out there as long as possible and put as much pressure on the opposition as possible.

Who have been important people who have stayed by you all along?
Too many people, but my family is the biggest thing. They have always supported me from a young age, and whether I am making hundreds or not they always present.