Firing for Kallis

Dale Steyn has promised that he and his teammates would do all that was necessary to win Jacques Kallis’s farewell Test.

After a superlative bowling effort that restricted India’s first innings to 334 in the second Test, Steyn said: “We will do whatever it takes, be it scoring quick runs or taking 10 wickets again to get a result in Jacques’s last match.

“When he told me about his retirement I actually had a tear in my eye.”

The South African spearhead tended to downplay his six-wicket haul and said: “Sometimes you need a soft dismissal to set you up, I got a few strangles down the leg-side which you usually don’t get and then my tail was up.

“Allan (Donald, South African bowling coach) said this was one of my best five-fors. After the covers were removed, the pitch was a bit sticky, there was that sweat or moisture underneath and it worked for us for one-and-a-half hours.”

Later Murali Vijay (97) said it was tough to bat against the “world’s number one bowler” Steyn. “The pitch had some moisture when we started batting and I was telling (Cheteshwar) Pujara that Steyn was reversing the ball. We should have taken the responsibility but unfortunately we got out.

“I was happy with the way I batted on the first day and I was conscious about leaving balls outside the off-stump as a cover-drive is not always on in these conditions. We are hoping the ball will reverse for us and 334 is a good score and hope we can do well,” he said.