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WEEKLY
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| ‘Indian batsmen need to score heavily’ |
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Friday, November 20, 2009
AHMEDABAD: India coach Gary Kirsten has urged his batsmen to come up with “something special” to save the first Test against Sri Lanka.
The hosts are faced with an uphill task on the final day on Friday after Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (275) and Prasanna Jayawardene (154 not out) extended their sixth wicket stand to a world record 351 on Thursday.
The tourists, aiming to win their first Test on Indian soil in 27 years, declared their first innings at 760 for seven for a first innings lead of 334.
India closed day four at 190 for two, still 144 runs behind with eight wickets in hand. Opener Gautam Gambhir led India’s fightback with an unbeaten 74.
“To be honest so far it has turned to be a fantastic batting wicket,” the former South Africa opener said.
“A wicket where a batsman will be licking their lips saying, ‘well it is an opportunity to get big hundreds here.’ Hopefully the wicket holds the way it has held over four days and provides a great opportunity for our batsmen to do something special tomorrow.”
Almost 1,400 runs, including five centuries, have been scored for the loss of just 19 wickets so far, indicating that the pitch at Motera has been a batsman’s paradise.
“We got the batsmen; we got the skill in our team to do what we need to do tomorrow. But it requires a lot of concentration and a lot of effort and people to say, ‘I’m ready to make a total effort to save the game for India.’”
Kirsten praised Jayawardene who recorded the sixth double century of his career to lead a strong Sri Lankan batting performance.
“You better give credit to the way the Sri Lankan batsmen batted. It was a superb effort; their batsmen are hungry for big scores.
“And Mahela just showed what a quality player he is at Test match level, he doesn’t give it away, he bats big and bats for long periods of time.”
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ISSN 1563-9479 
