November 24, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1428

NEW DELHI, Nov 23: Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria on Friday said the tourists were still in a position to turn the tables on India in the first Test despite the hosts’ fight back at the Ferozshah Kotla Ground.

The lanky player emphasized that Pakistan will have to bat well in the second innings and set India a challenging target to win the Test.

“Yeah, it would be difficult batting in the fourth innings and as the game goes on, the pitch will create problems for the batters because of the low bounce. Already the ball has started to stay low, so it is very important we don’t give them a big lead in the first innings,” he told a press conference.

Kaneria, who took the vital wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the final session, praised the efforts of Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Sami. “I thought we bowled well today and all three pacemen were excellent.

Shoaib, Sohail and Sami really bowled well to reduce them to 93 for five. The way we fought back was wonderful, especially when we had Sachin Tendulkar run out.

“Then Sohail put us in a strong position with two wickets but both Dhoni and Laxman played superbly and we were unable to get rid of them as quickly as we would have liked,” he added.

India’s middle-order batsman Vurrupu Laxman said that he loved batting in tough situations and was happy to play his part in the rescue act on Friday.

“I always like playing under such situations when the going gets really tough. I’m delighted that I have done well in this game so far,” said the elegant Hyderabad right-hander. Laxman, whose place is under threat because of Yuvraj Singh’s superb form in the recent one-day series against Pakistan, termed his knock as one of his best in Test cricket.