Pujara, Vijay say will stick to basics in Test series
13 Dec 2013 5:53 AM IST
‘I think you got to keep it simple because already there is a lot of talk going around. You got to go out there and be free in your mind and just see the ball and play, that’s the basic plan, as simple as that,’ said Vijay, who was sent early to acclimatise with the South African conditions, along with Pujara, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha and Wriddhiman Saha.
‘We came early and I have watched a couple games on television, especially the first one at Wanderers. So I know what to expect,’ said Vijay, talking about India’s 0-2 ODI series drubbing, ahead of the team’s two-day practice game against a South African Invitational XI beginning here tomorrow.
Asked who they thought was the quickest bowler they had faced in their career so far, Vijay and Pujara chose a name other than Steyn. While Vijay picked Australia’s Mitchell Johnson, who is scaring English batsmen in the ongoing Ashes series, Pujara could not decide between another Australian James Pattinson or South Africa’s Morne Morkel.
‘When you are playing at international level, you expect fast bowling and so it’s not about who is the fastest. But yes conditions are favourable for bowlers and so it is a little challenging for us.
That is the important part as a youngster, because when you want to grow as a cricketer you want to face challenges and learn out of it. It will be a challenging tour for us but we are well prepared for it,’ said Pujara. ‘I think the important thing here is that you need to adjust to the bounce and the lateral movement. Since I have played a couple of matches here it will help me adjust better and I think the preparation time that we had here is also enough and should help us to perform better,’ he added.
We are ready for a fight in Test series: Ravichandra Ashwin
BENONI: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin refused to read too much into India’s 0-2 drubbing in the ODI series against South Africa and said that the result has rather made the players ‘ready for a fight’ in the two-match Test series beginning on December 18.
Ashwin did not the term the ODI series loss as disaster for India though he said it was not great either. ‘I never like to call any series disastrous. It is a big word for me and disastrous is something that you use when a World War occurs. But what happened was not great either,’ he said.
India lost the first ODI in Johannesburg by 141 runs and the second in Durban by 136 runs. Ashwin sought to take positives from the ODI series loss and said all the players were now desperate to do well in the Test series which begins in Johannesburg.
‘The ODI series loss has put everybody in a good frame of mind in terms of going out there and being prepared for fighting.’
‘We came early and I have watched a couple games on television, especially the first one at Wanderers. So I know what to expect,’ said Vijay, talking about India’s 0-2 ODI series drubbing, ahead of the team’s two-day practice game against a South African Invitational XI beginning here tomorrow.
Asked who they thought was the quickest bowler they had faced in their career so far, Vijay and Pujara chose a name other than Steyn. While Vijay picked Australia’s Mitchell Johnson, who is scaring English batsmen in the ongoing Ashes series, Pujara could not decide between another Australian James Pattinson or South Africa’s Morne Morkel.
‘When you are playing at international level, you expect fast bowling and so it’s not about who is the fastest. But yes conditions are favourable for bowlers and so it is a little challenging for us.
That is the important part as a youngster, because when you want to grow as a cricketer you want to face challenges and learn out of it. It will be a challenging tour for us but we are well prepared for it,’ said Pujara. ‘I think the important thing here is that you need to adjust to the bounce and the lateral movement. Since I have played a couple of matches here it will help me adjust better and I think the preparation time that we had here is also enough and should help us to perform better,’ he added.
We are ready for a fight in Test series: Ravichandra Ashwin
BENONI: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin refused to read too much into India’s 0-2 drubbing in the ODI series against South Africa and said that the result has rather made the players ‘ready for a fight’ in the two-match Test series beginning on December 18.
Ashwin did not the term the ODI series loss as disaster for India though he said it was not great either. ‘I never like to call any series disastrous. It is a big word for me and disastrous is something that you use when a World War occurs. But what happened was not great either,’ he said.
India lost the first ODI in Johannesburg by 141 runs and the second in Durban by 136 runs. Ashwin sought to take positives from the ODI series loss and said all the players were now desperate to do well in the Test series which begins in Johannesburg.
‘The ODI series loss has put everybody in a good frame of mind in terms of going out there and being prepared for fighting.’
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