On a helpful pitch, England’s left-arm spinner Monty Panesar made some serious inroads into Indian batting claiming four wickets, including the prized scalps of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Excerpts:
On letting India make 266 for six after reducing them to 169 for six: I think we stuck pretty well out there. Especially early on, we applied a lot of pressure on the Indian batters. The Indian team did not expect it, they won the toss and batted and thought they would be 300-plus with not many wickets down. They obviously built a really good partnership between Ashwin and Pujara. If we restrict them to under-300 tomorrow then that will be good for us.
On his moment of the day: Obviously, getting the prince of India out. Sachin Tendulkar. I was, obviously, delighted with that.
On the pitch: Yes, they prepared a pitch that they already had played four-day cricket match – Ranji Trophy match. There’s still plenty of turn and bounce. That’s the kind of delivery that you need to bowl to these top players to get them out as they are very good players in their own conditions.
On missing out on Ahmedabad Test: Yeah, there was disappointment. But I’m happy to be playing in Mumbai. I had the experience of bowling with the new ball in Dubai against Pakistan. There was an option where the captain would be able to use me with the new ball. I was prepared for that and it’s something that I enjoy.
On Mushtaq Ahmed’s inputs: Mushy bhai has been very valuable for us. He has played a lot of cricket in the subcontinent and he understands the rhythm of the game. He helps me and Swann in how to understand the type of cricket that Indians play. Obviously, you have to adjust to the flamboyant shots they play and just got to accept it.
On the ball with which he bowled Tendulkar: I’ve been working a lot with Mushy bhai. I felt the previous ball I got my action wrong and dropped my arm a bit. The next ball I said to myself let me get all the processes I worked with Mushy bhai right and I got it. I got my fingers nicely around the ball.
