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| Harbhajan Singh celebrates one of his four wickets against Sri Lanka, in Mumbai, on Wednesday. (PTI) |
Mumbai: Harbhajan Singh, on Wednesday, praised the wicket at the Brabourne Stadium, saying it is ideal for Test cricket.
He also admitted at the press conference that India had conceded too many runs, but added they had the batsmen to challenge Sri Lanka, who are on their way to a big total in the third Test.
The following are excerpts
The pitch
It’s a good track to bat and bowl on. Today, one batsman got a century and another is batting on 86. Whenever the seamers bowled in the right areas, something happened, and the spinners also enjoyed the bounce. This is the kind of wicket Test cricket should be played on.
Close-in catching
We have to accept whatever we have. It would have been nice to have Gauti (Gautam Gambhir), but even (Murali) Vijay is very quick to react.
If too may runs were conceded
We could have bowled better. We gave away runs trying to do too many things. We could have also fielded better. It was a day when I felt our energy levels were a little low. In the third session, particularly, we conceded too many runs. Maybe we gave 40-45 runs more.
Absence of a fifth bowler
We have always been playing with four bowlers. What we need is an all-rounder who can bowl 15 overs and get us 50 runs.
If he was surprised by the turn he got in his very first over
I was not surprised. Red soil always helps spin.
Whether Lanka have the edge
I cannot say if they have the edge or not, we have to get those two wickets early. We have faith in our batting. Our batsmen can take the challenge. This wicket has a lot of runs. It’s a very hard surface. If batsmen like Viru (Sehwag) and (Tillekaratne) Dilshan stay till tea, runs can come really quickly.
The threat of Muralidharan
Murali is the biggest match-winner world cricket has ever seen. He has always been a challenge, be it a flat wicket or a turning one. But we have the batsmen to handle him. Even on a turning wicket in Galle, Viru got a double hundred against him.
DAY I HIGHLIGHTS
Sri Lanka’s score on the first day of the final Test is the most by any team at the Brabourne Stadium on a single day. Following is the list of the top five scores:
366/8: SL vs Ind, December 2, 2009 (1st day)
302/3: WI vs Ind, December 10, 1948 (2nd day)
301/6: Aus vs Ind, October 10, 1964 (1st day)
297/3: Ind vs Pak, November 14, 1952 (2nd day)
292/3: Eng vs Ind, February 8, 1973 (3rd day)
Most centuries in one calendar year
9: (Mohammed Yousuf 2006).
7: (Viv Richards 1976; Aravinda de Silva 1997; Ricky Ponting 2006).
6: (Denis Compton 1947, Gary Sobers 1958, Matthew Hayden 2002, Michael Vaughan 2002, Ricky Ponting 2003, Damien Martyn 2004, Ricky Ponting 2005, Graeme Smith 2008, Tillekaratne Dilshan 2009)
