Pitch was quite unresponsive on fifth day outside edge was out of equation Dravid
Kanpur Nov 29 PTI India head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday commended his spinners for putting up a great show on quite an unresponsive fifth day track with outside edges not coming into play in the drawn first Test against New Zealand The Indians got nine New Zealand wickets but failed to dislodge the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel as the visitors managed a creditable draw after being down and out in the post-tea session We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch three in that session and five in last session With a little bit of luck it would have gone our way I think guys really fought hard Dravid said after the match What surprised Dravid was the fact that the pitch lacked the bite one finds in this part of the world on the fifth day with minimal turn and almost no close-in fielders — slips forward short leg silly-point or backward short-leg — coming into the picture It was low and slow and probably it didnt have that much bounce or didnt have turn Probably you expect a little bit more wear and tear on fifth day in Indian conditions over the course of five days This didnt seem to have that kind of bite he added Dravid then spoke about his assessment in greater detail Generally in India on day five spinners can challenge both edges — inside and outside You know you can beat people on the inside edge and get lbw But honestly in this game the outside edge was virtually ruled out he sounded a trifle disappointed Even till the last day none of the edges carried very few catches close to the bat I cant remember KS Bharat took a couple It sort of made it feel that there is only one way to get people out bowled or may be lbw probably two in last session In spite of that we were able to prise out nine wickets 8 on the last day but it was tough but we expected it to be tough in Kanpur I have played here and I know wickets can be tough he said He felt that with the winter setting in the cracks didnt open as it would have say in September or October Usually on day five you should get bit more help and cracks to widen up a little bit I dont know may be its winter and thats why cracks didnt open People like Tom Latham were able to play more than 400 balls across two innings before getting out and that was because defending wasnt as big a problem here said the coach It felt like if you wanted to block didnt want to score runs it got difficult to get people out and we saw that We have quality guys who were able to make a game out of this and otherwise it would have easily gone on to become a dull draw he was all praise for his spinners before signing off PTI KHS KHS AH AH
Kanpur Nov 29 PTI India head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday commended his spinners for putting up a great show on quite an unresponsive fifth day track with outside edges not coming into play in the drawn first Test against New Zealand The Indians got nine New Zealand wickets but failed to dislodge the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel as the visitors managed a creditable draw after being down and out in the post-tea session We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch three in that session and five in last session With a little bit of luck it would have gone our way I think guys really fought hard Dravid said after the match What surprised Dravid was the fact that the pitch lacked the bite one finds in this part of the world on the fifth day with minimal turn and almost no close-in fielders — slips forward short leg silly-point or backward short-leg — coming into the picture It was low and slow and probably it didnt have that much bounce or didnt have turn Probably you expect a little bit more wear and tear on fifth day in Indian conditions over the course of five days This didnt seem to have that kind of bite he added Dravid then spoke about his assessment in greater detail Generally in India on day five spinners can challenge both edges — inside and outside You know you can beat people on the inside edge and get lbw But honestly in this game the outside edge was virtually ruled out he sounded a trifle disappointed Even till the last day none of the edges carried very few catches close to the bat I cant remember KS Bharat took a couple It sort of made it feel that there is only one way to get people out bowled or may be lbw probably two in last session In spite of that we were able to prise out nine wickets 8 on the last day but it was tough but we expected it to be tough in Kanpur I have played here and I know wickets can be tough he said He felt that with the winter setting in the cracks didnt open as it would have say in September or October Usually on day five you should get bit more help and cracks to widen up a little bit I dont know may be its winter and thats why cracks didnt open People like Tom Latham were able to play more than 400 balls across two innings before getting out and that was because defending wasnt as big a problem here said the coach It felt like if you wanted to block didnt want to score runs it got difficult to get people out and we saw that We have quality guys who were able to make a game out of this and otherwise it would have easily gone on to become a dull draw he was all praise for his spinners before signing off PTI KHS KHS AH AH
