India would look to set Pakistan a challenging second innings target after
landing themselves in a position of safety as they look for a series-clinching
win on the final day of the second Test at the Eden Gardens here, wicketkeeper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni said today.
With the wicket helping spinners, it was hard to score off the slow bowlers on
the Eden Gardens track.
"We will bat for sometime tomorrow and everything depends
on the time (of declaration) and the runs we score. You have to be on the safer
side first. You need extra runs to challenge them in this kind of a wicket,"
Dhoni said when asked about India's prospects tomorrow.
"The wicket is helping the spinners. And normally the
game changes on the final day. We will look for a win tomorrow. It's a slow
wicket. The bowlers will have to use the rough. When the balls gets softer,
scoring gets difficult," Dhoni said after the fourth day's play.
Asked whether the Indians could have played a bit more aggressively,
Dhoni said "Because of the slow nature of the track, it is hard to score
runs. On this pitch, it is hard to hit all the balls for fours and sixes. I
must say we were ready to bat the full quota today. But since the umpires thought
otherwise, we had to come back." After the Pakistan second innings
folded for 456, India finished the day at 141 for two, with Dhoni (28) and Ganguly
(24) in the middle.
On the Indian bowling strategy on the final day, Dhoni said
the spinners will have to fox the Pakistan batsmen in flight, turn and bounce.
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