'No chance of recovering after 1st innings'

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Ahmedabad: Losing by an innings and 90 runs may not be as bad as losing by two days to spare. But India were subject to both after they were shot out for 76 on the first day of the second Test at the Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera here. Captain Anil Kumble, though, attributed it to the opponent fielders.

"It was one of those days (the first day) when every edge from the batsmen went straight to the fielders," the Indian captain said after India went down 0-1 in the three-match Future Cup series on Saturday. But he credited the batsmen for their performance in the second innings.

"The batsmen seemed to be in good nick in the second innings as everyone got starts, but could not go on to make a big one," he reflected on two half-centuries from Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni.

"It would have been great if he (Ganguly) had got a hundred today," he lamented.

The 37-year-old, however, acknowledged that after the insipid show in the first innings, India could never have got back in the game. "It's always difficult to come back in a match when you have been bundled out for 76. We were in the game even when we got four quick South African wickets, but the partnership between Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers took it away from us," he said.

Understandably, questions were to be thrust about the pitch. "I think the pitch behaved like this throughout the game. Although it slowed down a bit, there was always something in it in the first session. The bowlers didn't have much to write home about, but they put in their best in every ball they bowled."

He also put to rest all speculation about him being reportedly unhappy about the way the pitch was prepared. "There was no problem in the preparation. I have never indulged in asking the curators to make the pitch to specifications. It's not for me to say how to make pitches."

Also, there was the added pressure to come back from a 0-1 deficit to draw the three-match series, he added. "No doubt there is pressure on us to bounce back in the series. But I'm confident we will do so. We have come back from tougher situations, that too in away conditions. These are home conditions.

"We will go with a positive frame of mind and look to win in Kanpur as we have a good record there," Kumble said.