India head coach Rahul Dravid appreciated the efforts of the bowlers in taking out nine wickets on day five in the drawn first Test against New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium on Monday. He added that pitch did not challenge outer as well as inner edges on day five. The last-wicket New Zealand pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel were defiant in keeping India away from a win, managing to save the match in a thrilling draw.
"I guess the facts of the pitch were that it was probably low and slow, didn't have that much of bounce and turn. You probably expect a little bit more of wear and tear on these wickets in Indian conditions over the course of five days. It just didn't seem to have that kind of bite. It's generally in India on Day Five where you can challenge both edges, at least the spinners can challenge the outside edge for the catches and beat people on the inside edge for the lbw. In this game, the outside edge was virtually ruled out, and even till the last day none of the edges were carried. I can't even remember a catch close to the edges. I think Bharat took a couple but other than that, it felt there was only one way to get people out which is bowled and lbw, which was probably true in the last session," said Dravid in the post-match press conference.
"Inspite of that, I think we did a great job in prising out nine wickets on the last day. I have played in Kanpur before but it was slower and lower than I have experienced anything here before. Usually, on Day Five, you should get a bit more help, cracks widen up a little bit. Maybe it's winter or what it was, it felt like if you wanted a block or wanted to score runs, then it felt really difficult to get people out. We saw that as quality guys were able to make a game out of this otherwise it could have easily become a dull draw," added Dravid.
