Centurion, Dec 20: Putting up a brave front, Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said that his team would take a lot of heart from the way his batters have performed in the second innings notwithstanding the huge loss at the Centurion.

Dhoni admitted that his team missed the services of experienced Zaheer Khan and that his presence in the second Test would have an impact on the game and as well as oyher bowlers in the side.

Excerpts from the post-match press conference.

On the Centurion Test loss and how difficult it was to make a comeback

Once you get dismissed for 136 in the first innings, you can say [the loss] was inevitable. The deficit was too much to handle. It was a good show by the batsmen but I think we could have bowled well on this wicket.

On the track

Well of course it looked a completely different track - if you looked at it on Day 1 and then compare it with today. The bounce on the first day and the rest of the days was different. It was wicket where the bowlers would want to bowl at the start.

On losing the crucial toss

I think after winning the toss it was half the job done [for SA] but still their bowlers needed to bowl well. They bowled in really good areas and got our batsmen out. And the way they batted – all of them got to a good start. [Jacques] Kallis, [Hashim] Amla and [AB] deVilliers - the way they batted, I think they really did well as a team.

On the positives for Team India

Well most of the batsmen got off to a good start in the second innings and they capitalised [on the starts] and went on to score big. You know Gautam [Gambhir] scored 80, Sachin [Tendulkar] got a fantastic hundred. So that is definitely a big positive for us. But there are still grey areas where we need to improve especially [in] our bowling department, more than anything else. We need to bowl in time as there was a situation in the middle where we were like five or 4.3 overs short. You can’t really [reach] that stage.

On Zaheer Khan’s availability for the second Test

Yes, he is our leading fast bowler. He always comes up with a plan even when it is not going his way. Of course we are looking forward to him getting back to the side. And also he can educate other bowlers as to what line and length they need to bowl and give them a second plan if the first plan is not working.

On practicing the toss as his loss record has been pretty high of late

Well of course I need to. I have lost quite of few of [the recent] tosses. Nine before I won the last one and then two or three after that. Definitely, we need to practice that also. But it is important to take rest the next two days and take some time off - not think much about cricket and then get back into the groove.