http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527 hopes for an Indian resurgence at Kingsmead
Former South African test cricketer and the coach of Indian cricket team Gary Kirsten believes that the second test between the South Africans and his team beginning on the Boxing Day is set to be far more competitive than the first test
at Centurion which the tourists lost by an innings.
Kirsten spoke to the media two days ahead of the crucial test that the Indians need to win if they are to have any chances of pulling of a series win in what has been labeled as the battle for the top spot in ICC test rankings.
The foremost thing on the agenda for Kirsten is ensuring that his team takes 20 wickets in the match; he is happy that the spearhead of the attack Zaheer Khan is fit and raring to make an impression on a lively track at the Kingsmead in
Durban the venue of the second test.
"Bottom line is, we need to get 20 Test wickets. I think we have shown in the last three years that we have the ability to get 20 Test wickets in any conditions. It's up to us to prove to every one that we can do that here. It's up to
us to prove to ourselves too that we can do that. Obviously nice to have Zaheer back. We look forward to whatever conditions are given to us, and we have the quality in our bowling line-up as well."
The former left-handed opener, who was regarded as one of the best of his time, lamented the batting performance of his team in the first test on what was a tricky first day wicket.
"We were well prepared for the last Test," he said. "It was a tough wicket to bat on on the first day. We probably let ourselves down a bit. We have got to assess the situation and get the best we can get out of the surface as a batting
unit. I felt we were 100 runs short in the last Test, and we have got to apply ourselves”.
The stoic former opener also spoke of the importance of putting up scores close to 400 in the first innings. "We know that if one of our top six is getting a decent score, a big hundred, we are going to get a score in excess of 400," he
said. "The guy that's in, and it could be anyone, and can get in and bat for a decent amount of time, that will allow us to get to scores of 400”.
Meanwhile the Indians have an uphill task ahead of themselves despite http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757’s iffy record at the Kingsmead.
The ground that is located near the Durban beach has been a tough one for the hosts where they have struggled to win in the longest format of the game in recent years, the hosts have won only 3 of the last 8 tests at the venue and two
of their wins have come against lowly http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 on the other hand have an abysmal record in South Africa having won only 1 of the 13 tests that they have played in the country since its readmission to international cricket in 1991-92.
The major worry for the tourists would be the bounce and pace that they are likely to encounter at Kingsmead, besides the grass on the track can make life miserable for the much vaunted batting line-up of the top ranked test team.
The Indians were shot out for 136 at Centurion in the first innings; this time around they would be hope to win the toss and put the Proteas in rather than test their own skills against the moving ball.
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