India have just shown us why they are the Number 1 Test team in the world. They played according to the blueprint for a perfect Test match and that has served them success for the last few years. They got us out early and then posted a huge total. That is the formula good teams use to put pressure on opposition.
It is now up to us to show how we respond to that.
We probably lost our way on the first day when we lost wickets in a heap. With the pitches being so good, it becomes difficult to claw your way back into the game if you have not posted a decent total. The India line-up has such quality that it has become that much more difficult to show our worth in this deciding Test match.
Then you have someone like Virender Sehwag teeing off on such a good wicket that it begins to pull things back at once. We did manage to calm down the tempo on the second day, but good batsmen rarely miss out on such pitches.
We had one more chance on the third morning. But again it was not enough. India were already pulling ahead of us, that even a small collapse did not halt their march. We figured out pretty soon that it is going to be a tough scrap for us in this contest.
Hats off to Rahul Dravid for batting the way he did. He batted with tremendous application. He just hit the bad balls, adjusted himself on the track and just persevered to get a big score. He has batted India into a position of strength. The Black Caps have a lot of respect for Rahul and his batting is something that we can hopefully emulate over the next couple of days.
We need to do what Rahul did — just take it ball by ball — instead of looking at the big picture. If we do that then we can go a long way in saving this Test match.
We go into the final two days with a lot of hopes pinned on our batsmen. If they can pick up the pieces then it will be a good end for us in this Test series. We as a team have a lot of confidence in our batting. Now, hopefully they will repay the faith. Go boys this is the moment, seize it.