JOIN USThe uncertainty over the injured Dale Steyn continued with South African skipper Hashim Amla revealing little about the paceman’s recovery from the stiff groin.
Steyn, who sustained the injury in the first Test, didn’t bowl during India’s second innings while he failed the fitness test for the second Test forcing the Proteas to retain Kagiso Rabada and add Kyle Abbott in place of Vernon Philander who is out of the series after hurting his left ankle.
“I am not 100 percent sure what the exact prognosis is but if he is ready for the next Test, certainly it would be great to have the world's No 1 (bowler) back in our team,” said Amla on Wednesday. “If he was fully fit he would have played this Test match. I can’t say, I am not sure, I haven’t yet touched base with the physio yet.”
Amla hoped for more cricket in the next Test in Nagpur, beginning on November 25, after the Bengaluru washout. “The weather in Nagpur should be more cricket friendly,” he noted. “But we had a similar experience in Bangladesh not too long ago. A few days of Test cricket were washed out and there was nothing we could do about it. We just need to look ahead and hopefully we'll do better in the next Test.”
Amla admitted that it was a poor execution of shots rather than the nature of the pitch that led to their collapse in the first innings on the opening day here. “If I'd won the toss I'd have batted first here anyway,” he said when asked if inserting them first played on their batsmen’s psyche.
“It was a very good wicket. We just didn't get going with any partnerships. AB was exceptional as always. Unfortunately no one stuck around with him long enough to post a big total.”
The soft-spoken batsman felt anything could have happened despite them being bowled out for a low total and India raising 80 runs for the unbroken first wicket in response.
“Although we got bowled out for 220 odd (214 all out) and India were in a good position at the end of the day, Test matches are not always won on the first day. There was a lot of time left for us to claw our way back into the game. You never know what could have happened, but it wasn't meant to be. It will be great for us to get some confidence under our belt, not having successful batting stints as yet. But Nagpur is a different Test and hopefully that's when it starts,” he remarked.