TNN

Napier, Mar 31: Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag brushed away his own non-performance by waving his hands and saying: "I am quite happy with my own show.  Sometimes you get runs, sometimes you don't."

He, however, was full of praise for Gautam Gambhir's effort. In his typically nonchalant way, he explained that the little fellow proved that he was the "second Wall of India now". "And this time, it is from the North," he said, flashing his wicked smile.

What about the first Wall? "Oh, he is still there," he said. When he realized that it could be misinterpreted, he quickly added: "Nobody can replace him."

Sehwag underlined that Gambhir had played the innings of a lifetime. "He saved the game for us. He batted for 11 hours. As you can see he is developing his game. He curbed his aggression and is learning with experience," he said.

The stand-in captain, however, claimed that they never entertained defeat even after being asked to follow on. "We were very sure that we could save the game. We knew we had enough talent and experience in the lineup to bat for 2-3 days.

"The mood in the dressing room was fantastic. We had batsmen like Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid who know how to bat in situations like this," he said. "We have got used to winning, to saving matches from difficult situations. So we were confident," he added.

He, however, admitted that it was virtually impossible to get a side out twice on this pitch. "It was a very good wicket for batting. It had bounce for the bowlers. New Zealand worked hard and couldn't have done anything more," he said.

Sehwag refused to accept that it was too good for Test cricket, though. "I think it was a good Test wicket. We play on flatter tracks than this; this at least had good bounce so I would say this was pretty fine."

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, however, felt that it was just a good wicket for batting, nothing more. "On a good Test wicket you get a little variable bounce, a bit of inconsistency when the wickets wears down a bit and becomes a little difficult to bat on. On this wicket, you could bat on for another five-six days," he said.

"I think everyone wants to see a wicket deteriorate and see the spinners come into play," he said. "Batting was pretty even here throughout the match."

Vettori was, however, extremely pleased with the performance of his team. "I couldn't have asked for more. It was disappointing not to finish it off, not being able to force it. But we were dominant throughout the Test. The ability to score those big runs should never be underestimated.

"And the performances of Ryder, Taylor and McCullum with the bat, backed up by a magnificent first-innings bowling spell by guys like Chris Martin and Jeetan Patel, I was really pleased with that. We couldn't quite get the early wickets in the second innings and that was the only really hard thing about the match."