Durban, Dec. 26: Stylish India middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman was the only one to emerge from the Day One of the second test against South Africa on Sunday with some credit.
Save for an unusually wayward Morke Morkel, the South Africans’ pace attack harassed the Indian batting line-up with Dale Steyn leading the charge with a four-wicket haul. India, as a result, are looking at an underwhelming first innings’ score, but Laxman reckoned anything over 250 could be enough.
“Anything above 250 runs will be a good competitive score on wicket like this if conditions remain the same,” Laxman said on Sunday. “It would have been ideal if I and Rahul would have carried on that partnership that would have put a lot of pressure on the South African team,” he added.
Laxman said the Kingsmead track was quicker and had more bounce than Centurion but admitted that the batsmen should have converted their starts.
“As compared to Centurion, the wicket here is much quicker, bounce is also more. The Centurion wicket was much softer and slower. Especially on the second day at Centurion the sun came out and wicket became flat for batting. The same should not happen here,” said Laxman who top-scored with a 38 in India’s 183/6 at stumps.
“All of us got starts but we could not convert the same in to a real big one that is a bit disappointing,” Laxman said. The 36-year-old also heaped praise on the pace bowling duo of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. “Steyn and Morkel are among the best I have faced in my career,” the Hyderabadi said.