By Anil Kumble
It was extremely disappointing to go through the Test match inAhmedabad because after the first few hours, we were always on theback foot and chasing South Africa. Frankly, when we got shot out in20 overs, it happened so quickly that we didn't even realize what washappening, while it was happening. And before we could take it all in,we'd lost all the top order.
There was certainly something in it for the faster bowlers rightthrough the game and a bit more early on, but at the same time, giventhe kind of batsmen we have, we should really have handled it. Butthis was one of those innings where things just went wrongcollectively: The outside edges would go straight to the fielders andthe inside edges onto the stumps. Still, we were in with a chance toget back into the game, when we had four batsmen down for 110 but thepartnership between de Villiers and Kallis really took the game awayfrom us.
Like I said, once you're behind a team, it's really very difficult toget back into the game. The only chance is if you get the oppositionout for 200-250 and that did not happen here.Well, it's happened and while it was a loss that hurt all of us badly,now, it's time for us to look ahead and recoup. We've had a couple ofdays off we've been talking about what to do next to try and ensure weput things in perspective and look at the task ahead, winning the Testand squaring the series.
The only snag in our plans are the injury worries, we have a couple wehave to work around --- unfortunately, my own injury is the majorconcern really --- and that is giving us some stress but hopefully,everything will be sorted out by Wednesday.
Actually, no one is unfit or anything, this has all got a lot to dowith the amount of cricket we've been playing, not actual fitnesswoes. There's not been too much rest in between and under thecircumstances, this is bound to keep happening. It's something we haveto deal with.
The wicket here has always been slow, with a low bounce and from whatI've been given to understand, nothing much has changed at the GreenPark either in terms of the ground or the conditions. A few local boyswho have played most of their cricket here, Kaifi, Piyush Chawla, RP'even if he's not part of this squad' their inputs will be useful.Let's see how things pan out. We have a fantastic record at home, anddo not want to mar it by losing a series, so how we go about playingthis game will be hugely important. We all know the responsibility wecarry and realize that the only way to do this is to get a really bigscore and have the bowlers come up with a special performance.I'm pretty positive that we will be able to do that.
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