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'We still feel that 390 is manageable' - King

Wasim Jaffer felt that only a draw or an Indian win were possible tomorrow while Bennett King thought that 390 "was manageable".



Wasim Jaffer earned the opposition's praise: 'any Test two hundred is a very good score' © Getty Images
Wasim Jaffer felt that only a draw or an Indian win were possible tomorrow while Bennett King thought that 390 "was manageable". Both could be proved wrong - with 30% chance of rain tomorrow - but, either way, it set up an exciting finish.
"I'm looking forward to tomorrow," said King at the end of the day. "I mean, 380 runs is going to be a tough ask but we're not shying away from the fact and we're going to try to get into a situation from where we can win the game. Hopefully the game pans out that way. We'll know more after the first and second sessions."
The West Indies bowlers might have been hammered to the tune of 306 runs in 82.5 overs but King felt they had done a good job in the middle of the day. "I thought we kept them in check," he added. "They started out at around 4 to 5 runs an over and we pegged them back to about 3 and kept them there until the last hour, when Dhoni came out and swung his axe. It took a little bit away from us but we still feel that 390 is manageable."
He didn't hesitate to praise Jaffer's knock - "any Test two hundred is a very good score" - but felt the fielders had allowed him to get away. "We had opportunities. He played and missed a number of balls and gave us a few chances."
He might have looked loose on a few occasions, but Jaffer looked back on the innings as a "special" knock. "We needed to bat well today, to set the game for tomorrow. Nice to get a double-hundred in West Indies, only a few have got it. Last time around [in 2002], probably I was not matured enough. After I got dropped last time, I learnt a lot from domestic cricket ... I scored a lot of runs there and I think I was used to it. This time I am more matured and ready to bat for long hours."

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is staff writer of Cricinfo