IANS
Kolkata, Feb 18: Indian cricket coach Gary Kirsten believes his bowlers can wrap up the remaining seven South Africa wickets in another 50 overs on the last day of the second Test Thursday to level the Test series.
A major part of the fourth day was lost due to rain and more showers are forecast on the fifth and final day Thursday. South Africa, battling to save the Test, are 115/3 trailing by 232 runs on the first innings.
Asked how many overs his team would need to bowl out South Africa, Kirsten said: "As many as we can get. Hopefully, we will need only forty or fifty but it's very difficult as you know with the weather."
"We've played very good cricket right through the Test match. We are in a good position and we'd like to close it out, and we'll give it our best shot in the amount of time we have," Kirsten said.
"We came out today and put the pressure as quickly as we could. I think we would have been happy with five wickets in the day."
Asked why the floodlights are not being used, Kirsten said: "I don't think they are being used for this game. That's the ruling from the match referee."
Kirsten said it was disapointing not to get a full day's play.
"Obviously, it was disappointing not to be playing. That's the way it is. We can't fight the weather. It would have been handy to have 50 overs today or whatever. We just got to get on with it and use the time available to us."
On whether he was satisfied with facilities, Kirsten said: "That's not really for me to comment. It was disappointing not to have had more time this morning. We were off the field for an hour and a half this morning. But that's not for me to take up. Just the way it is."
Kirsten said there was nothing to fear over Zaheer Khan's fitness. Zaheer sustained an injury after bowling five overs, and could send down only one over after lunch.
"He has got a bit of tightness in his quadricep. He came off the field just to get some ice on it. But it's just precautionary at the moment. We'll see how it goes tomorrow."
Kirsten said the dismissal of Jacques Kallis was very vital.
"It was handy getting Kallis out before the bad light. Amit (Mishra) bowled really well today, so did Harbhajan. With Ishant and Zaheer adding in as well, we are in a good position."
Kirsten said the wicket of Amla will be very crucial for them Thursday morning.
"He (Amla) is a quality player and he's played really good cricket in this series. It's up to us to make sure we bowl him in good areas and put him under pressure. But you know there are lots of players in South African team as there are in the Indian team who you cannot aford to give chances as they can punish you."
"We had a wobble in the last Test, and we have had a lot of injuries as well. And we bounced back here. The guys have shown for a while now, in the last 18 months, when they are backs against the wall, they can bounce back. Not only the batsmen but the bowlers as well. I'm excited with our performance in this Test."
"One thing this team has done really well is build pressure for a period of time we can make it count for us. We know in a two-Test series one session can make the difference. It happened with South Africa in Nagpur and it happened with us here."