Ahmedabad, Oct 11: New Zealand off spinner Paul Wiseman today said his team had a big task ahead of them on the fifth and final day tomorrow as they chase a fourth innings target of 370 for victory in the first cricket Test against India. "We have a big job on our hands tomorrow though we are quite satisfied with the situation we are in today," said Wiseman who added 67 runs with Daniel Vettori for the ninth wicket that helped the Kiwis avoid the follow-on in the first innings.
India, after gaining a lead of 160 runs, declared their second innings at 209 for five declared. The visitors were 48 for the loss of Mark Richardson, with Lou Vincent on 21 and night watchman Daryl Tuffey yet to open his account at the crease at stumps on the penultimate day. "We would have liked to have gone into the final day without losing a wicket but I think the situation we are in is better than following on and then trying to bat out 175 overs against some world class spin bowlers like Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble," the 32-year-old said.
Wiseman followed up his rearguard batting performance, scoring 27 runs off 79 balls, with a counter-attacking bowling to grab four for 64 in the Indian second innings.
"I think the Indians were looking for some quick runs (in the second innings) and were throwing their bat around," Wiseman said. "However, I think getting rid of batsmen like Sachin, Rahul, Laxman and Ganguly who are perhaps the best players of spin bowling in the world was quite satisfactory.
"I tried to bowl slowly to Sachin as I preferred him to hit hard than give him some pace to play his shots and I think it worked some what. However, I was a bit dejected to have dropped Dravid on the long-on boundary," he added.
"I don't feel as thrilled as having got four wickets as I feel dreadful at having put down the catch off Vettori. I think we also batted quite well. We are quite happy with the situation we are in," he added. Bureau Report