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.