South African batsman A B de Villiers admitted that his side was caught off-guard by the strong Indian fightback today but felt that the second Test here is still evenly poised.
South African batsman A B de Villiers admitted that his side was caught off-guard by the strong Indian fightback today but felt that the second Test here is still evenly poised.
"We batted extremely poorly, quite a few soft wickets. They bowled very well. They got Zaheer Khan back into the attack, he's a world-class bowler and put us under pressure from the word go. They caught us off-guard and bounced back," de Villiers said.
"A couple of wickets didn't go our way like that of Alviro Petersen and Jacques Kallis but the Indian bowlers bowled really well and their lengths and lines were spot on. Thanks to our bowlers for getting us back in the game and now it's balanced," he said at the post-match press conference.
"India are the number one team in the world at the moment. You expect the number one team to bounce back after a poor performance," he added.
India have taken an overall lead of 166 runs with six second innings wickets in hand but de Villiers said his side can even chase down 300 in the fourth innings.
"We would like to chase something between 240 and 260. If the Indian batters play well tomorrow I back our batters to come back and play well the next innings. After a very poor performance today, we'd like to come out and prove ourselves and play well again. Even if we have to chase 300, we'll give it a good go," said de Villiers who scored a duck in South Africa's first innings total of 131.
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