India head coach Rahul Dravid spoke about the lack of juice in the pitch on the fifth and final day which made it harder for the edges to find the fielders. He termed the Day 5 pitch as “quite unresponsive” and hailed his bowlers, especially the spinners, for putting up a great fight which almost produced a result. “We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session. It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and a really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch, three in that session and five in the last session,” explained Dravid in the post-match press conference.
Dravid found it surprising that the final day’s pitch had hardly anything to offer in terms of turn and bounce as the ball failed to reach the slip cordon quite often.
“It was low and slow and probably didn’t have that much bounce or didn’t have a turn. Probably, you expect a little bit more wear and tear on the fifth day in Indian conditions over the course of five days. This didn’t seem to have that kind of bite,” Dravid opined.
He explained the usual circumstances of how the pitch deteriorates in India on the last day of a Test match. According to him, the outside edge was “virtually ruled out” due to the lack of bounce.
“Generally, in India on day five, spinners can challenge both edges — inside and outside. You know you can beat people on the inside edge and get LBW. But honestly, in this game, the outside edge was virtually ruled out,” said Dravid.
Dravid explained how the cracks in the pitches usually tend to widen going into the last day in India and how the winter season might have affected that phenomenon.
“Usually on day five, you should get a bit more help and the cracks to widen up a little bit, I don’t know, maybe it’s winter and that’s why (cracks didn’t open).”
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Despite a tough Kanpur pitch, Dravid acknowledged the outstanding grit and determination showcased by India’s bowlers as they ended up with nine New Zealand wickets in the second innings.
“It sort of made it feel that there is only one way to get people out, bowled or may be LBW, probably two in the last session. In spite of that we were able to prise out nine wickets (8) on the last day, but it was tough but we expected it to be tough in Kanpur. I have played here and I know wickets can be tough,” he said.
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