London, Aug 19: S Sreesanth removed England skipper Andrew Strauss early on the second day of the fourth Test at the Oval to get the visitors off to the perfect start. However, after a good first session the Indian bowling attack was dismantled by Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen who piled on the runs to take England to 457 for the loss of three wickets at stumps on Day 2.

At the end of the day’s play, S Sreesanth spoke to the media about the game in progress. Excerpts.

On how the day had panned out after a good start for India

Ishant [Sharma] started off really well with RP [Singh] and we had [a] plan [for] containing the runs but it didn’t happen that way. Hard day’s play but that’s how it goes. Cricket is fun.

On whether the conditions changed after lunch or it was England who changed their approach

Even in 2007, I remember, [on] the same wicket we scored almost 600-plus runs so it’s a pure batting track. There is something for the bowlers if you run in hard and hit the deck, but even the batsmen know - How long will a fast bowler run in and bowl hard, maybe eight or nine overs? They played really well, both Belly [Ian Bell] and KP [Kevin Pietersen]. They took the initial risk plus they stayed on the wicket when a couple of spells [were] really good and they just stuck on to the game.

On whether the bowlers have been unable to bowl in tandem consistently

Partnerships are very important, be it bowling or batting; we needed to plan [it] out the same way today. The series didn’t really go to our liking for sure, [it’s been] disappointing. It’s 457 for three wickets so [on Day 3] maybe anything can happen. I remember even in [the] Australia series in Australia, Australia were [something like] 260 all out so. It can happen, let’s see; even our batsmen are yet to bat. I’m sure it’s going to be a good game.