Nagpur: Indian coach Gary Kirsten came out in support of the Indian bowlers after South Africa posted a mammoth 558 for 6 on the board in the first innings of the first test, saying that the bowlers tried their best but were unlucky not to have dismissed the Proteas for a smaller score and that the onus is now on the batsmen to bring India back into the game.

In reply to South Africa’s massive first innings total of 558 for six declared, India were 25 for no loss after the second day’s play. Kirsten said the Indians should bat themselves back into the contention on Monday.

“We certainly will give the best shot to win the game. We need to bat well. That’s going to be very important,” Kirsten said at the end of second day’s play. “There is lot of work to do on the batting side. A couple of guys have to apply themselves and get big scores on board. We know we are capable of doing that. It’s a big day from the batting perspective tomorrow.”

India’s task would be even more difficult since they are missing middle-order stalwarts like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman but Kirsten seemed to have enough trust in the ability of young substitutes S Badrinath and Murali Vijay. “(In Dravid and Laxman) you got two batsmen who have played over 100 Tests each and obviously you are going to miss their experience. But I think it’s a great opportunity for the likes of Vijay and Badrinath to do something. They are quality players. It’s a great opportunity what they can manage against a top-ranked international team,” Kirsten said.

Talking about the Indian bowling attack, which looked spineless against the South Africans in the first innings, Kirsten said that he was happy with both the fast and slow bowlers. “The guys bowled their hearts out. I thought Amit Mishra bowled really very well for no wicket. He went past the outside edge, I don’t know how many times. You have days like that when you don’t really get the results you want, but from a coach’s point of view I was pretty happy with the effort that we put in,” he said.

“All the bowlers bowled really well. I thought Harbhajan’s rhythm was fantastic. He was a bit unlucky,” he added.

Asked about the absence of a fifth frontline bowler on the slow-paced pitch, the India coach said the team had produced good results in recent times with four bowlers. “In the last 15 Tests we have not played a fifth bowler, except one Test in Bangladesh. We have got a pretty good record without the fifth bowler,” he replied.

He said the idea was to keep the runs under check and his bowlers have succeeded in doing that. “From 291 for two (overnight South Africa score) we had to get wickets or keep the run-rate down. We were not getting that many wickets and so were happy to keep the run-rate down to reasonable level,” he said.

Kirsten also lavished praise on South African batsmen Jacques Kallis (173) and Hasim Amla, who hit a career-best unbeaten 253. “Kallis and Amla batted exceptionally well. If the batting from the other side is really good, you got to acknowledge that. Two guys applied themselves and did a fantastic job to get the big partnership going,” Kirsten said.

Asked about Amla, with whom he has played earlier, Kirsten said he always believed in his ability. “I always thought he was a fine player. We knew when his time will come he’s going to get big hundreds for his country. He’s proved what he’s capable of doing. It was a superb innings. Even in domestic cricket he was getting big hundreds. (I give) full credit to him,” he said.

Kirsten also clarified reports of Laxman being left out of the side despite practising in the nets, saying the Hyderabadi was not match-fit. “He was not fully fit, not match fit. He could hit some balls. The decision taken by the management and him is that he was not ready for a Test match,” Kirsten said.

Talking about the pitch at the VCA Stadium, the coach said there already was some turn in it but the South African batsmen proved there was nothing to panic. “I think it’s taking some turn but, as the South African batsmen showed it, not that it was out of hand. It’s up to us to bat as well as we can. We did see balls that turned a fair amount, but we expected it at some stage,” he said.

He also thought the South African fast bowlers would find it difficult to get anything out of this pitch. “You have to dig it really short to get it up. There’s very little bounce on the wicket,” he said.

Tagged with: Amit Mishra, Gary Kirsten, Harbhajan Singh, Hashim Amla, India, Jacques Kallis, Murali Vijay, Nagpur, S Badrinath, South Africa

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