India’s star fast-bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar reckons that match is pretty much alive despite the fact that India lost three quick wickets.

Talking about the first Test against South Africa in Cape Town, Bhuvi said, “I think the game is still evenly balanced on the first day. I wouldn’t say that any one team is ahead. The only on our mind about what we want to do tomorrow is to bat well and bat for as long as possible.”

However, the pacer also acknowledged the fact that Indian bowlers gave away 30 extra runs as South Africa reached 286 in their first innings despite being reduced to 12 for 3 within the first half an hour. He said, “If we want to be hard on ourselves, then yes we did give away a few too many runs to South Africa. I think they scored 25-30-odd extra runs. In every hour of play, there were 2-3 overs, where we gave away easy boundaries. That is an area we can improve on.”

He further elaborated, “It is a concern. During the break also, we were talking about bringing the run-rate down because in Test cricket four runs per over is a lot. This is something we want to improve when we bowl in the second innings but overall we are happy with the lines and lengths we bowled.”

Kumar also backed the slip fielders, saying they had done well in the past and the bowlers still trust them. He said, “The slip cordon has held some great catches in the past so they will miss one or two. We do not go bowling thinking they will not hold catches. We trust the slip cordon to hold their catches.”

Praising AB de Villiers, Bhuvneshwar said that the bowlers have to be at their best to bowl to him. He said, “When it comes to AB de Villiers, he is the best in the world and you have to be at your best to bowl to him. He was counter-attacking us and took the game from us. He didn’t take it completely but he took the session away from us. It would have been good if we had got him out early.”