Late wickets lifted our dressing room: England assistant coach

Rajkot: The two wickets that England picked up at the fag end of the third day may not have given them an edge against India in the opening cricket Test, but assistant coach of the visiting team Paul Farbrace today said the dismissals have certainly has boosted their confidence. "I wouldn't say it has given us an edge, it's given us a lift in our dressing room. When you go (through) the day with two wickets, to get two at the end is a real bonus. I think credit goes to our perseverance and a very disciplined way of bowling all day," said Farbrace at the media conference after the day's play. India lost well-set Murali Vijay and night watchman Amit Mishra in a space of just four balls to slump from 318 for 2 to 319 for four in a jiffy while chasing England's huge first innings score of 537 at the SCA Stadium here. Farbrace praised the bowling effort of the English team in conditions not conducive to their strength and against two well-set batsmen in Cheteshwar Pujara and Vijay. Both Pujara and Vijay hit individual hundreds and also put on 209 runs for the second wicket to lead India's fight-back. "We bowled to two outstanding batsmen in good conditions, a very good cricket pitch. But to be able to pick up two wickets at the end certainly has given our dressing room a huge lift tonight," Farbrace said. "It's still a awful long way to go but it's nice when you talk about being patient, sticking to your plans and then you get rewarded at the end of the day. That's exactly what has happened to us today. "Today we stuck to a very disciplined way of bowling, our seamers have done a fantastic job in difficult conditions. We are also really pleased with the way our spinners have bowled. They took a bit of stick in Bangladesh for perhaps not holding their line and length but I thought today they particularly bowled very well. No doubt they had a really good day today." England bowlers controlled the flow of runs in the second session, restricting India to 66 runs after the hosts added 99 in the first, and Farbrace said it was as per plans. "Today we talked a lot about making sure they don't get to score too easily. I think (Ben) Stokes had a little spell just before lunch when he chased it a little bit, didn't necessarily mean to. But the danger is when you go looking for wickets you get a bit strayed." he said.