Pitch doesn’t justify this collapse, says Sehwag | india vs sa 1st test

He scored a century on a day when the South Africans dominated and, at the post-match news conference, Virender Sehwag said he was still hoping that India are able to stage a fightback in the match.

The following are excerpts

If they still hope to save the match

We’ll of course try very hard. I’m sure we will fight back. We will give our 100 per cent to recover and save this match. (Murali) Vijay is playing quite well (in the second innings) and Sachin (Tendulkar) is still there at the crease. Anything is possible in cricket… Like we did the impossible against Australia a few years back at the Eden. So we’re hopeful.

Dale Steyn

He is a very good bowler and did very well in these conditions. The wickets of Sachin and Vijay (in the first innings) prove how well he bowled today. Both were excellent deliveries with one coming in and the other moving away. Later, when the ball got old, he applied the reverse swing quite effectively.

Whether he was worried by the Proteas’ sledging

No, not really… This is my fourth series against South Africa and I know very well what kind of approach they can take against me.

If the wicket was difficult to bat on

It certainly was not a wicket that justifies such a collapse. We needed partnerships… A few good partnerships could have helped us a lot. The wicket is good enough to bat. One only needs patience to succeed on this track. However, Steyn bowled superbly and deserves full credit.

The reverse swing

After the ball was changed, it did start to reverse a lot. The ball they were using earlier was soft… With the harder ball, it started reversing a lot.

The batting collapse

The wicket-taking deliveries were great balls. It’s not that we played rashly, rather they bowled well.

The century

I didn’t take any undue risk. Because I don’t play the pull or hook that well, I let alone the short deliveries. I just tried to show some patience out there.

Subramaniam Badrinath’s debut performance

He is a very good player and has scored lots of runs in domestic cricket. I just asked him to enjoy and play each delivery on its merit.