With India gaining the advantage over Australia with three wickets in the last one-and-a-half hour, Murali Vijay feels that the hosts have a better chance of winning the match than the visitors drawing it on Monday.
Speaking to the media at the end of the day’s play, Vijay said that the wicket was getting lower and slower and that it was a conscious decision to keep batting for as long as possible so that a good lead can be secured before putting the opposition in the middle.
“I think we are in a very good position. There is nothing to worry about. The ball is reversing and the wicket is getting lower and slower, so it will be difficult for them. As for us, it was a conscious effort to keep batting as long as possible and set up a good lead so that we can win the match tomorrow,” Vijay, who completed his second 150-plus score in as many matches on Sunday, said.
With his record 289-run opening partnership with debutant Shikhar Dhawan, India managed to reach to a position where they can win the match despite losing a day to rain. Talking about his partnership with Dhawan, Vijay said it was incredible.
“It was just incredible to watch him play. To play like that in your debut is match is some feat. And it was great to watch it from the other end. I didn’t want to stop his flow. I just ensured that I hold one end up and tighten my defense. It is a Test match, so I have batted a little slow as it hasn’t helped when I have tried to attack the bowling. So I just wanted to stick it out.
“Yes, I did attack the spinners as I looked to play percentage cricket and it worked for me. I couldn’t defend against both the pacers as well as the spinners.”
On the other hand, Australia medium-pacer Peter Siddle, who took 5 for 71 on Sunday, hopes that their batsmen will be able to give a good fight and save the match.
“We are still behind with three wickets down, so it is hard to win from here. But we will put in the challenge. Hopefully (Phillip) Hughes can keep up the good work and we cross the deficit without losing any more wickets.
“The wicket looks really good and flat and it has kept low, but that zone is well outside the off-stump, so shouldn’t bother the batsmen,” he said.
Siddle feels it has been a case of failing to stop that one big partnership in every innings that has cost Australia.
“We have played well in sessions, but not a whole day. Also, we haven’t been able to stop that one big partnership. We needed to start as well as we bowled with the second new ball. We knew we needed to get wickets, but we failed.
“But we managed to slow the run-rate with the second new ball and then it was good stuff from us. I think the Indian batsmen have played really well against the spinners. But once we broke a big partnership, the spinners have put massive pressure on them and helped us,” he said.