Published: Dec 29, 2013, 12:01 AM (IST)
Edited: Dec 29, 2013, 12:24 AM (IST)
Murali Vijay was happy that he scored 97 runs on a slow wicket although he was disappointed that he couldn’t get to a bigger score considering how difficult the new batsmen found the Durban wicket.
Vijay felt Steyn justified his World number one status by his superb bowling display and also paid tribute to the outgoing Jacques Kallis. He went on to say that that Kallis was one the players he idolized as a youngster.
When asked specifically about an area of his batting that he worked hard on, he replied, “I have been watching videos before I came on this tour. The one thing that got me out was playing away from the body, and especially in this part of the world that shot, the cover drive, is not on. You may be 100 percent sure about it, but it is still not on, he said in a PTI report.
“I just wanted to cut down on that and play straight as much as possible. That was my game plan”.
Vijay had a 157-run partnership for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara. But once the two batsmen got out, India folded on either side of the tea-break, bowled out for 334 runs.
“Yes we are disappointed about giving away the advantage. MS [Dhoni] and Ajinkya [Rahane] had a little stint in the middle. It was not easy for the new batsman coming in because Dale [Steyn] was reversing the ball well. We should have taken the responsibility and gone through that session.
“Unfortunately, he bowled well and we got out. We did well enough to score 334, and hopefully we will pull it off tomorrow,” Vijay said.
