Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 7 (IANS) India’s dashing opener Virender Sehwag said after the second day’s play Monday that the Feroze Shah Kotla track was still good for batting and both the teams have an equal chance of winning the first cricket Test.

Seventeen wickets fell during the day and at the end of it West Indies have a lead of 116 runs after bowling out India for 209 in the first innings in reply to their own 304.

“Both the teams have 50-50 chances of winning the Test match. The wicket is not bad. But scoring runs is not easy on a track where the ball keeps low and also reverse swings. The batsmen tend to get defensive because the ball doesn’t come smoothly on the bat,” said Shewag.

Sehwag, who scored a quick-fire 55, defended the slow and low Kotla track and said it was still good to bat on.

“It is not a bad wicket. It was keeping low but it is still a good track to bat on. The team suffered due to soft dismissals. But these things happen in Test cricket,” said Sehwag.

“The opening partnership was good and suddenly Gautam’s (Gambhir) freak run out and my stumping changed the course of the match. We also lost (Sachin) Tendulkar and (V.V.S.) Laxman in quick succession. We were lucky that they dropped couple of catches and I was also bowled off a no-ball,” he said.

Sehwag also said that the quick departure of the openers put pressure on the middle-order.

He said the target for the team is to restrict the West Indies to 100-150 runs in the second innings.

“We would like to restrict them to 100-150. Our job is to get them all out at the earliest so that we have a small total to chase,” he said.

Sehwag said he was happy with his own performance but lamented missing out a century. Sehwag just played two Test matches in England before being ruled out with an ear infection.

“I am happy with the way I performed in this Test match. It felt very good. But I made a silly mistake. I wanted to convert the 50 into 100. But hopefully I will get a century in the coming Test matches,” he said.

Sehwag praised India’s spin duo of Pragyan Ojha and debutant Ravichandran Ashwin. Ojha (6/72) bagged his maiden five-wicket haul while Ashwin bagged three for 81.

“They are a good prospect for India. Ashwin has done well in his first Test match and Ojha is also doing well. They are quick learners,” he said.