India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has said that he and his fellow bowlers will need a good total to defend and take the team to a win, transferring the responsibility to a famed batting line-up. He added that the Bengaluru track has begun offering a bit of turn. India's batting had faltered in the first innings, with the team registering their lowest score ever at home.
India ended the third day of the first Test at 231/3 and still trail by 125 runs. Ace batter Virat Kohli (70), who completed 9,000 Test runs during his innings, got out to Glenn Phillips off the last delivery of the day, edging him to Tom Blundell, leaving Sarfaraz Khan (70) at the crease at the close.
Kohli and Sarfaraz added 136 runs for the third wicket after captain Rohit Sharma did the running with a fluent 52. But Kuldeep believes that the upcoming batters have a bigger task at hand.
𝟗𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠….A career milestone for @imVkohli 👏👏He is the fourth Indian batter to achieve this feat.#[email protected]/Bn9svKrgtl
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 18, 2024
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“The spinners were getting some help when we were bowling and hopefully, we will get more spin on Day 5. But for that, we need a good total to defend,” Kuldeep said while speaking to the media after the end of the day's play.
“Considering our bowling attack, we will be aiming at setting an effective target. We can't predict a proper total right now as a lot of batting is still left for us,” Kuldeep added.
Amid the more flashing half-centuries by Rohit and Sarfaraz, Kohli's effort still stood out for its personal and situational importance. But Kuldeep hoped that Sarfaraz, who is batting on 70, will score some big runs on Saturday, October 19.
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“We all saw how he scored 200 during the Irani Trophy. We're hoping that he slams another here. Since he is playing for India, his technique does not matter as long as the runs keep coming," Kuldeep said.
KL Rahul, who was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, is expected to join Sarfaraz in the middle in the first session of Day 4.