There’s room for improvement, says Kapil

He was lavish in praise of his teammates, especially Devang Gandhi and Sadagoppan Ramesh. “They were positive and it helped us to take the lead. Everybody contributed… Our middle order is one of the best in the world… There is a healthy competition in the team.”

As for the bowlers, Tendulkar said: “(Anil) Kumble was superb so was (Javagal) Srinath. Kumble is our main strike bowler and he keeps propping the team. (The) rest cannot be like him and Srinath but have to keep on supporting them. They should keep on taking wickets, like here, and that’s how we will win in futuretoo.”

Turning point: New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming felt Craig McMillan’s dismissal was the turning point today. “He was reading Kumble well and had we got some more runs, we would have put pressure on the Indians. More than the pitch, we are disappointed with our poor batting. Nudges and pushes were required on this wicket but… After the top-order failure, it was upto the lower order to get runs. These kinds of wickets were on the expected lines. Playing under the Indian conditions was a challenge and we needed to refine our techniques for that. We didn’t really have much time to prepare ourselves,” Fleming lamented.

Both skippers felt that though the wicket was slow to bat on, it wasn’t very bad. “Yes, it was slow and turning but it wasn’t a vicious turner. It only started turning more from the third day onwards,” said Tendulkar.

Kapil summed it up: “We got a result, nobody got injured and batsmen got near centuries. Can it be a bad wicket? Yes, it wasn’t a perfect wicket, butresults are also very important. Agreed, people want to see more and more runs being scored but you can’t play on wickets where you can’t even complete the first innings in five days.”

And, how important was the win for Kapil? “It was very important not only for me but for all the members. After all, they have to go and perform on the ground. My role is to stand behind the boys. I have to support and encourage them so as to take off whatever pressure is on them.”

No change for 3rd Test: The national selectors retained the same 14 for the third and final Test of the series against New Zealand to be played at Ahmedabad from Oct 29 to Nov 2. The team for one-dayers and for the tour to Australia as also the India A side for the West Indies tour will be announced after the Test at Ahmedabad.