'Will be hard for SA to get us out', Gambhir

India finished Saturday’s day three on 190 for two, needing 294 more to avoid an innings defeat, and might have taken some comfort from the thunderstorms that lashed SuperSport Park some 45 minutes after play was halted for bat light – there is a 95 percent chance of rain on Sunday too.

“Apart from the first day when it was doing a lot, I always felt this was a good wicket. It’s going to be hard for the South Africans to get us out,” said Gambhir, who made 80 in India’s second essay. “We have batted really well till now, and we have got the batting that can pull it off for us.

“It is a very flat track,” Gambhir added, referring to day three producing 444 runs and only four wickets in 87.2 overs. “It’s just a matter of hanging in there and take every session one by one.”

Gambhir had a torrid time at home against the Proteas in February, as well as in the first innings here when he made a 43-ball five. Asked if this knock had earned him the respect of the opposition, he retorted, “Most important is to earn my colleagues’ respect, rather than thinking whether I have earned the South Africans’ respect. My job is to play for the country and score as many runs as possible. If they think they don’t rate us, it doesn’t matter. We are still the number one side in the world.”

Refusing to blame the bowlers who leaked 225 runs in two and a half hours in the morning, Gambhir observed, “Had we bowled on the first day, we would have created a lot of havoc too. The last time we came, when the wicket helped us, we created a lot of havoc.”