40-50 overs on final day enough to bowl out SA: Kirsten

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: February 18, 2010

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Kolkata: Indian coach Gary Kirsten said after the fourth day’s play here that 40-50 overs on the final day should be enough to bowl out the South Africans but he is not sure whether even those would be possible with the kind of weather prevailing in the city.

Kirsten said with South Africa 115 for three and still trailing by 232 runs, India held the edge but all would hinge on how many overs’ play is possible on the final day. “We are in a pretty good position, we have got them three down and now we need just seven more wickets. It all depends on how much time we have,” said Kirsten.

Asked how many overs he thinks India would require to claim the remaining seven South African wickets, Kirsten said, “Hopefully we will need 40 or 50. But it’s very difficult with this weather.”

The Indian coach, however, believes that getting rid of South Africa’s batting mainstay, Jacques Kallis, just before the close of play was a big relief for the team. “It was handy getting Kallis out before the bad light. They got some good players all the way through,” he said.

Kirsten also lavished praise on his spinners and said the entire bowling unit would go all out for victory. “Amit (Mishra) bowled really good today and so did Harbhajan (Singh). With the two of them bowling really well and Ishant (Sharma) and Zaheer (Khan) adding to attack, we are really in a good position. It’s only about how many overs available to us tomorrow,” he said.

Kirsten said overall the team played well in this Test and they need to keep up the good work on Thursday. “We have had a very good Test, we played good cricket all the way through. We have done what we felt we needed to do. As anyone knows, we are in a good position and obviously we would like to close it up giving our best shot in the amount of time we have got,” he said.

He said that the first target would be to remove Hashim Amla, who has been in tremendous form and is holding the fort for South Africa with an unbeaten 49. “He is a quality player, he has played quality cricket this series and he is in really good form. It’s up to us to make sure that we bowl them out. We have to bowl a lot of balls in good areas so that we can put them under pressure and get them out,” he said.

After the disappointing innings and six-run loss in Nagpur, India put on a vastly improved show here and Kirsten said the players just worked on the areas they could have done better in.

“There was disappointment. There was a bit of talk around and they said they would sort it out. It’s amazing how Test match cricket works. Funny things happen. South Africa were 218 for one and then we were able to turn it around. This team is playing with a lot of pride at the moment, we are proud at the way they are going about their performances,” he said.

He said that the way India has bounced back in the series reaffirms why India is the number one team in test cricket.

“We did not become the number one Test team out of nothing. We have got guys who have got ranking records. I think we are very proud of our performances. We had a wobble in the last test, we were unfortunate with injuries as well, losing quite a few experienced players. But we bounced back. We can take a lot of pride in the guys who were really determined to bounce back. This team has shown over a while now that when they are back to the wall they can bounce back. I am happy not only for the batsmen but for the bowlers as well,” Kirsten said.

Kirsten also hailed the return of VVS Laxman who had an unbeaten century to his name in India’s big total of 643-6 declared. “He is a high quality player. It was great to have him back. We know what he can do and what he is capable of,” he said.

Before the start of the series, South African adventure-explorer Mike Horn had given the team a pep talk to square off the series and Kirsten also took the occasion to thank him.

“It was just fantastic to listen to him. Paddy (Upton) organised it for the team. The guys were really inspired by him. The timing just worked well. He is quite a busy man, at the moment he is travelling around the world. He just happened to be in this area this time. Paddy knows him quite well, it just happened. The guys really enjoyed his inspirational stuff. We enjoyed having him around,” Kirsten said.

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