‘Kallis playing the perfect innings’
Durban: South Africa’s opening batsman Alviro Petersen has said that Jacques Kallis in his last Test, is “playing the perfect innings for his team”. Petersen himself scored 67 runs, but deemed that Kallis’ unbeaten knock of 78 as more important in placing the Proteas just 35 runs behind the visitors at close of play. “Jacques played the perfect innings for the situation we were in. He hadn’t faced a ball yet, when AB (de Villiers) walked in. To soak that pressure and to stay tall, in your last match, is phenomenal. He didn’t look like he is playing his last Test. He looked in his prime,” Petersen said at the day end press conference. “Jacques is not going to cruise this match. We know him, he will not be nervous because he is approaching his hundred. That’s the way he bats and holds the innings together. He will be key for us tomorrow, trying to go past India’s score and then guiding the lower order,” he added. Kallis stroked his way to an unbeaten 59th Test fifty. (PTI)
Scoring runs against South Africa is reassuring: Vijay
Durban: He might have missed out on a hundred but Indian opener Murali Vijay is satisfied that he made a significant contribution of 97 runs against a quality South African attack in the ongoing second cricket Test here. “Home or overseas, scoring runs makes me happy. I am happy with the way I batted the whole day yesterday. Of course, it is disappointing that I couldn’t make a hundred,” said the batsman. “Scoring runs against the number one side in the world is self-assuring. With the kind of attack that they have, and this is not a flat pitch, it is a two-paced slow wicket. So it is difficult to score runs. I thought I batted well,” he added at the second day’s play on Friday. When asked specifically about an area that he had worked hard on, Vijay replied, “I have been watching videos before I came on this tour. The one thing that got me out was playing away from the body, and especially in this part of the world that shot, the cover drive, is not on. You may be 100 per cent sure about it, but it is still not on. “I just wanted to cut down on that and play straight as much as possible. That was my game plan.” (PTI)