India bowling coach Eric Simons believes that the first half-an-hour on Saturday could well be the most crucial phase in the second Test against New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here.
“I feel that the fourth day's play will hold the key, be it in batting or bowling. Our batsmen and bowlers are capable of exploiting any situation,” Simons said. He was not unduly worried about Harbhajan Singh going wicket-less on the first day.
Simons termed the no-ball problem as a pretty strange one. “Especially when you look at the fact that Sree (Sreesanth) missed a crucial wicket off a no-ball when Martin Guptill was called back after being declared out by the field umpire,” Simons said. “I think when the umpire is in doubt about the decision, he is within the rules to refer it to the third umpire and that is what Kumar Dharmasena did,” he said.
New Zealand batsman Martin Guptill said the team was off to a better start here and felt that any total of 500-plus should be good.
“During my partnership with McIntosh we were just telling each other to be positive and wait for the scoring opportunities. I thought he batted beautifully given the circumstances (McIntosh bagged a pair in the first Test),” Guptill said.
“I was just walking away when the umpire called me back after being earlier declared out caught behind. I am not sure what happened then. But that gave me a second wind,” he said.
