200-plus target will be challenging: Henderson

South African spin bowling coach Claude Henderson praised the Indian batsmen’s strategy in tackling the visitors’ spinners in the second innings of the first Test here. After dismissing the Proteas for 184, India ended day two on a healthy 125/2 with Cheteshwar Pujara (63 batting) looking in supreme control.

“It has been a bit frustrating watching from the side,” said the former South African spinner when asked about what has changed after a rush of wickets in the first two innings.

“I think India’s done really well, taking the singles around. It is very difficult for a spinner when you bowl three good balls, batsman gets a single, trying to get some pressure. The good thing is I have seen Immy (Imran Tahir) now and then in the last few overs, a few balls turned and bounced. It’s just finding the right pace as well on this wicket,” he reasoned.

The former left-arm spinner also had a word of praise for Indian spinners. “I think what the Indian guys have done really well is they have been very consistent, so a lot of dot balls in between and then you get one to turn and bounce. So there weren’t a lot of easy ones around, so maybe that’s the message to try and do tomorrow. Just try and be a bit more consistent and then the odd one can... The wicket will come into play.”

Henderson felt anything above 200 will be a challenging target to chase for South Africa who are 142 runs behind now.

“I think we need wickets tomorrow. They are 140-plus already, we need wickets early to try and create pressure. Anything above 200, I believe, will be challenging. But saying that, I have seen this team doing some special things. With our batting line-up, I won’t get easy if I am India because there is a lot of time left in this game and we don’t know what can happen with this game. But obviously, if they are going to go past 300, then it is going to be really difficult. The bigger the score, the longer you can carry catchers around. So it is going to be interesting,” he remarked.