Gary Kirsten was pleased with his side's performance here on Saturday. The Indian coach said, “If someone had said we would get six wickets on the day we would have been extremely happy. It was a fantastic day.”
He was impressed with his bowlers individually and as a group. “The second session was big for us, and to pick up four wickets in that session. I thought in the first session, we kept it really tight. We didn’t give away too many unnecessary runs, bowled in good areas. We built some pressure and then created some opportunities after that. The third session wasn’t as good, the boys had got really tired.”
Kirsten was aware of Kumar Sangakkara's presence in the middle. “They have got world class batsman, like Sangakkara, they don’t give away wicket thjat easily. He has halted things. I don’t know what their plan is, obviously they need to bat out time. From our perspective, we knew we had a lot of time in this game to get the 10 wickets required and chase down a target.”
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On India being on the brink of becoming No. 1 in the ICC Test ratings, he said, “It is certainly something we aspired to attain 18 months ago, before we started against Australia. We wanted to become the best test team in the world. That will be a great achievement for this team. Hopefully we can do what we need to do tomorrow to have achieve that goal. A lot of credit goes to the players in this team. They have all stood up to be counted at various times in these last 18 months. We have a very powerful top-seven batting line-up. And the bowlers have obviously, on their day, done the job.”
On the surface here at Brabourne, Kirsten said, “I think this has been a fantastic Test match wicket, probably the best one we have had in this series. It has provided opportunities for all the disciplines you get.”
He said India had come back strongly in the series after being under pressure in the first Test. “You will have challenges or obstacles along the way, which you have in every Test series. We were four down for little on the first day and we had some to work to do. We know we have got individuals in the team, who can pull us out of any situation.”
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Asked about promising opener M. Vijay, Kirsten said, “He’s a fantastic player and took his opportunities. I was pleased with the way he went about his business in the first innings.” Turning his attention to Virender Sehwag, he noted, “He adds massive value to our team in all forms of the game because even if he is getting out for a low score he scores his runs at such a quick rate. The new guy walking into the crease is not under pressure to score runs fast. And then when he does get going, he gets a big score. He is also an individual who doesn’t like to give his wicket away.”
Kisten continued, “Sehwag obviously would have liked to get a triple hundred here but he didn’t show that disappointment in the dressing room and that is what is exciting about this team. The individuals in this team are geared towards Team India goals.”
Australia's assistant coach Stuart Law said, “We came here with great expectations, specially this morning. Our big guns haven’t really delivered the big runs they can do consistently. It’s a shame to miss out on seeing Dilshan play. But Sangakkara, a man under pressure, showed today why he is probably rated the best player in the world currently.”
Asked about Sri Lanka's missed opportunity in the first Test, he replied. “I don’t think we lost the plot. Ahmedabad was a very tough wicket to get a result on. Had we won the toss at Kanpur, we could have dominated the game. But take nothing away from India, they are a powerhouse in world cricket and probably deserve the number one status.”
About Tillakaratne Dilshan's dismissals – the opener was wrongly adjudged out in both the innings here - Law said, “In the first innings, he didn’t hit the ball. That was probably more crucial. Had he batted that day out, started the next day, things might have been different. But looking back on hindsight, we have not played as well as we can.”