We have to be brave: Taylor
First Published : 30 Aug 2012, 17:18
Last Modified : 30 Aug 2012, 17:18
Bengaluru, Aug 30: His team may have beaten black and blue in the first Test, at Hyderabad. But New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor hasn’t given up on them by any means. On the eve of their second Test against India, in Bengaluru, Taylor held on to his optimism and belief in his men that they will produce a far better performance than the innings defeat in Hyderabad.
Speaking to the media, Taylor revealed how the batsmen have been working out ways to combat the threat of India’s spinners, and promised a tough fight from his entire team.
On Daniel Vettori being around
I thought Jeetan Patel bowled really well. If Dan was there, Jeetan wouldn’t have played. Having Dan in the team is always good, because of his experience. Being a past captain, he’s always been good to me for bouncing ideas off. Daniel cannot be around forever, and having another spinner in Jeetan Patel, who’s learning his trade at 32, is very good as well.
On the Pitch
[It’s] too early to gauge. It’s quite hard. I think the Hyderabad wicket felt quite hard as well. But I think it was just the first two centimeters, it was quite soft underneath. There’s been quite a lot of rain here in Bangalore in recent times. So, we just have to wait and see how much sun it gets this afternoon and what the weather is again tomorrow. But there’s always a bit of bounce and turn. Looking at the honours board upstairs, there weren’t too many people who have scored runs in September. So, we’ll have to wait and see.
On possible changes, like BJ Watling or some other player coming into the side
No. That’s the team that we had faith in in the first game and we’re going to give them a go in the next game as well. We didn’t play as well as we would have liked. But this is another opportunity for us to show how good we are as a team and what we’ve learnt as well. We’ve got good faith in our players and that’s what we’re going to show in this game.
His opinion on the wicket
As I said before, I think we’ll wait for it and see it tomorrow. You know, a bit of sun on that for a couple of hours will burn the grass off, it might be overcast for a while as well. And you never know the groundsman might take a little bit of the grass off as well. So, I don’t want to get too carried away and tell you. We’ll see what the wicket’s like tomorrow.
On whether the team will be happy with a draw
The way we go in a Test match is session by session. I think in the last three or four Test matches, it’s only taken one bad session to ruin a Test match. So, we don’t want to look too far ahead. And obviously, we’re still in the series. We haven’t won many Test matches in India, and we need to be brave and courageous in the way we go in this Test. We’ve got nothing to lose.
On not scoring a Test ton in a while
Yeah, I mean two hundreds in [the last] 30 innings is not great. But I feel like I’m not far away from scoring runs. I’m working hard. And when [after] you score two hundreds in 30 innings, sometimes you score two in two games. So you never know.
On facing Ashwin and Ojha
It’s never easy when you lose a Test match by over an innings. But we need to forget about it as quickly as possible. We had a talk amongst the group to find ways to play Ashwin and Ojha. As I said, we have to be brave and courageous and have the attack in, and hopefully, put the pressure back on them. And when we put the pressure back on them, there won’t be as many people around the bat, hopefully.
On Mark Greatbatch’s comments on New Zealand not being able to cope with spin
I think our biggest critics are ourselves. I think everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. But I’m very hard on myself. And no matter what anyone else says, it’s what I thought of myself. I was very disappointed in the way I played, and hopefully, I can show that I’ve learnt something come this next match.
