Summary:
Kanpur, Nov 29 (PTI) India head coach Rahul Dravid on Monday commended his spinners for putting up a great show on "quite an unresponsive" fifth day track with outside edges not coming into play in the drawn first Test against New Zealand.
The Indians got nine New Zealand wickets but failed to dislodge the last pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel as the visitors managed a creditable draw after being down and out in the post-tea session.
"We showed great composure and fighting spirit and worked really hard in that final session.
It was quite an unresponsive pitch on the fifth day and really good effort to have taken eight wickets after lunch, three in that session and five in last session.
"With a little bit of luck, it would have gone our way I think, guys really fought hard," Dravid said after the match.
What surprised Dravid was the fact that the pitch lacked the bite one finds in this part of the world on the fifth day with minimal turn and almost no close-in fielders -- slips, forward short leg, silly-point or backward short-leg -- coming into the picture.