Kirsten dismisses Hayden's remarks on Zaheer's vulnerability

New Delhi, Oct 27 (UNI) Australian opener Matthew Hayden's claims over Zaheer Khan's vulnerability against attacking batting were put to rest by India coach Gary Kirsten who said the left-arm speedster, in company of Ishant Sharma, allows India to always play a balanced team which was one of the reasons the home team had a perfect Test at Mohali.

''Zaheer is not a all vulnerable and has been a great asset for this Indian team,'' Kirsten told mediapersons here at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground today after the Indian team's practice session.

The former South African opener was all praise for both the Indian seamers and said the two will be in the scheme of things for the third Test that begins here from October 29.

He said the reverse swing that the Indian speedsters have been able to extract much to the surprise of their Australian counterparts might well continue here as well with the wicket looking to give good assistance to the pacers.

''We have two seamers who have made good use of the reverse swing. It's a green wicket but the reverse swing might well come into play sometime or the other.

''Both the pacers are bowling well and this is the kind of form that you need from your bowlers to make it a balanced team,'' he added.

The coach, however, did not rule out an Australian backlash but said his team was more concerned about their game and strategies to wrap up the series here only.

''Australia is a highly competitive team and I can tell you one thing that they would be well prepared for the Test.

''We are not focussing much on how the Australians are preparing for the match because we have our own important game as well to focus at,'' he stated.

Meanwhile, Harbhajan Singh, who had a slight pain in his toe, might just make it to the playing XI along with captain Anil Kumble who was also nursing an injury in the last Test at Mohali.

Kirsten was almost certain that Kumble will come in place of Amit Mishra who had an excellent second Test picking a five wicket haul in the first innings.

''I am not sure about Harbhajan and will have to wait till tomorrow. Hopefully he will be ready for the match,'' he said.

The South African said his team did have an almost perfect Test at Mohali where it thumped the Australians with a massive margin of 320 runs, but still the boys will not take anything for granted.

''We had an almost perfect Test at Mohali which will be a benchmark for our team. But we don't want to anything for granted as we go into the third Test,'' he added.

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