Gautam Gambhir feels India can make a match of the second Test.
“The game is still on. We have three more batsmen, and we will be hoping to score runs. We have to stay positive,” he said.
“If I have a good partnership with ‘Bhajji’ (Harbhajan) and get a lead of 120, the game is on. Don’t expect to score 50 and expect the bowlers to bowl the team out. Everything is possible.
“When I played my debut Test match here against Australia, we won by 13 runs.”
Gambhir said that the partnership between Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen had taken the game away from the home team.
“If you look at the rest of the scores, they haven’t scored much,” he said.
He also spoke of the batsmen’s struggles with Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann. “Their spinners bowled quicker through the air, and when you have bite on the wicket, some balls turn and some go through,” Gambhir said.
“At times our spinners bowled fast and at times slower through the air. It is important to know what speed you are going bowl on these types of wickets which had turn and bounce.
“Maybe Monty and Swann bowled at good speed, and that had troubled us. The Indian spinners were also able to turn and extract bounce but the speed made the difference. Their spinners bowled at the right speed. Monty was quicker than Ojha, as he has the extra bit of jump.”
Gambhir also said the Wankhede wicket was a very good Test wicket.
“We were never surprised. It is a result-oriented wicket. There is no fun where someone scores 500 or 600. These result-oriented wickets will bring the crowd. It will revive Test cricket, and I have always felt we should play on these types of wickets that will test the players.”
Team-man Pietersen
Pietersen said his century would mean a lot more if England wins.
“It was a pretty difficult wicket. You knew that at some stage the ball will have your name on it. To have got them (runs) on this track was fun,” he said.
“I wasn’t playing well at all in Ahmedabad. I did not trust my defence as much as I trusted my defence coming into this Test match, and as a batter if you don’t trust your defence, you try too many things to force the issue. I did a lot of hard work — as I always do — and luckily that paid off. I like to keep things simple.”
On both he and Cook equalling the England record for number of centuries, Pietersen said: “Getting hundreds for England, especially with ‘Cooky’ and going to No. 22, and then him telling me that you have only five to go and you are there as well was a special moment.
‘Chef’ (Cook) was magnificent. It’s a great feeling to be there at the top with Chef.”
Pietersen said Swann and Panesar had bowled at different paces and a bit quicker.
“Swann is probably No.1 or 2, as far as off-spinners are concerned, along with Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan. His numbers have proved that,” he said.
“Monty always does a good job for us. He got 10 in the game and he is not finished yet. He bowls at a very good pace,” he said.
“You know that when you face him in the nets, he bowls at a magnificent pace in the nets. It’s quite hard when it goes.”
