Mukund disappointed to miss out on a century

Roseau (Dominica), July 9 (PTI) Young Indian opener
Abhinav Mukund was crestfallen to miss out on an opportunity
to score a century after his patient 62 laid the foundation of
India's first innings during the third day of the final
cricket Test at Windsor Park here.
"I am really disappointed. After doing all the hard work
when the ball was swinging in the morning, I tried to stick on
and then got out to a ball, I must not have got out to many a
times," said an earnest Mukund whose 62 laid the foundation of
India's strong reply to West Indies total of 204 all out.
Mukund tried to flick a delivery from spinner Devendra
Bishoo which rose from a length and took the edge of his bat
to go into the hands of forward short leg fielder.
"The first two tracks had a lot of bounce. This one,
frankly, looked like an Indian wicket to me," he said.
"But still planting your feet and playing out forward
took a lot of effort. But then I started trusting the wicket
and could go forward a lot more than in Barbados."
A feature of Mukund's batting on Friday was his backfoot
play and the way he handled short-pitched bowling.
"I have played a lot on matting wicket while I was
growing up. My dad always told me that a lot of deliveries in
international cricket are short so I practiced and can play
short-bowling much better."
While Mukund has has moved up the ladder, his friend and
fellow opener Murali Vijay is having a wretched series and
once again got dismissed for one.
SPORT-IND-MUKUND 2LAST
"It's disappointing that he's been struggling a little
bit. We are good friends off the field and knowing him, he
doesn't allow much to affect him. It's amazing how cricketers
can go through ups and downs," Mukund said.
Mukund also felt for VVS Laxman who hit his third
straight half-century against the West Indies but failed to
convert anyone of them into a hundred.
"He was very disappointed. He has now hit three half
centuries in a row. I haven't seen that kind of dismissal and
a lot of us even thought if it was legal," he said.
Laxman was dismissed when he let a leg-spin from
Shivnarine Chanderpaul go into the gloves of wicketkeeper
Calrton Baugh.
He then lifted his leg mindlessly and Baugh, sensing an
opportunity, removed the bails that very instant.
India didn't bat with extra freedom in the final session
even though the West Indies were running ragged in the field
with injuries and sapping heat.
"It might have looked so from the outside since the
part-timers were bowling but a lot of those deliveries were
outside the off-stump. There were not many run-scoring
opportunities," Mukund said.
The 21-year-old feels, weather permitting, India should
go on to win the third and final Test over the next two days.
"We are leading by 104 runs which actually is 150-160
runs because of the (heavy) outfield. We hope wicket is
roughing up and weather permitting, and the ball turning more,
we should enforce a win over the next two days," he said. PTI
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