Johannesburg: India head coach Rahul Dravid said on Sunday that he would like to have more big scores from the batting line-up in the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers.
He also hoped that the second as well as the third Test will give a chance to the batters to step up and convert a good start into a big knock. India, 1-0 up in the three-match series, will be looking to seal the series in the second Test beginning on Monday.
“We would love to have more big scores from the batting line-up. But you never really are in such conditions and it’s not often that you see all batsmen being able to convert. We had (KL) Rahul being able to convert for us in the first innings, batted beautifully and really well. All of them batted well and looked really good in the time they had at the crease.
“Hopefully, this Test and the next one will probably be one of their opportunities to step up, play a big knock and convert one of those starts,” said Dravid in the pre-match virtual press conference.
Asked about his assessment of India’s 113-run win in the first Test at Centurion, Dravid sounded happy with the efforts of the bowlers but batting could have done better.
“We had a really good Test match. The bowling was absolutely phenomenal. To get South Africa out twice below 200 is an absolutely great effort. I thought we batted really well on day one. To be 272/3 at the end of day one is something which doesn’t happen really often. We did really well there.
“Going ahead, we could have got more from 272/3 to being bowled for 327, that’s an area we would really like to improve. I thought we could have batted better in second innings as well. A good Test match but a few areas in which we can learn, improve and get better because we know we have to do in this game.”
(IANS)