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Have patience: Formula to win on lifeless Trent Bridge wicket
Medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is of the view that India's bowlers need to adopt a ''patient'' approach on a lifeless Trent Bridge wicket to bowl England out twice and win the first Test in Nottingham.
- PHOTOS: India's last-wicket pair frustrates England
The Trent Bridge pitch has come in for flak from many quarters because of its flat nature and Bhuvneshwar was of the view that India's bowlers will have to produce a disciplined performance to make inroads into the English batting line-up.
"We cannot do much about the pitch except be patient. We need to keep bowling wicket-to-wicket, and it is more like an Indian pitch. We have enough experience of playing at home, so we know what we need to do," Bhuvneshwar said.
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'We are confident of bowling England out'
"The pitch might not change too much but it might take some turn later on. We are confident of bowling England out, and we have to do that because we want to win this match,” he said.
The English bowlers had to toil for nearly two days to bowl India out, as Bhuvneshwar and Mohammad Shami shared a stunning rearguard 111-run last-wicket partnership to frustrate the hosts.
"I don't think England bowled badly. They put enough pressure on us, tried different things and set up different fielding positions. It is the pitch; you need to do different things when it behaves like this.
"Also, if the last wicket yields a 100-run partnership then the bowlers will get tired and frustrated. So they were doing their bit and we were doing our bit," said Bhuvneshwar, who scored 58, his maiden Test fifty to help India amass a commendable 457 in their first innings.
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'It wasn't a tough wicket for batting'
India, however, were in a spot of bother at 346 for nine at one stage before Bhuvneshwar and Shami joined hands to bail the team out.
"We didn't talk too much when he (Shami) first came in to bat. I tried to play as many deliveries as possible initially so that he could get set. Later, he started playing his shots and that gave me confidence.
"It wasn't a tough wicket for batting and we just wanted to bat as long as possible without thinking too much," said Bhuvneshwar.
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'Now it is time to bowl well'
The Indians had a relatively good day in office as England were 43 for one in reply to India's 457 at stumps on day two. The hosts trail by 414 runs with three full days' play remaining in the match.
"It was definitely a good day for us, but it is not a good wicket for bowling, especially for medium pacers.
"We needed at least 400-450 runs in the first innings for a pitch like this and we did that. Now it is time to bowl well," he added.