India opener Wasim Jaffer is hoping that rain can save India in the first Test at Lord's after a poor batting performance saw them hand England the initiative.
"Yes, they're [England] in a strong position and so when we do play, we'll try to take the wickets. But, yes, the shorter the game becomes (because of rain), we are going to benefit from that. The first two sessions tomorrow are very important; how we bowl; and if we take wickets, yes, I think we can then save the game," he said on Saturday.
India were shot out for 201, giving England a first innings lead of 97 runs, which they swelled it to 174 after reaching 77 for 2 at close on day three.
However, Jaffer said the experienced India batting line-up will not have any problems chasing a score of around 300 in the last innings.
"Considering the batting we have, I think 300 is quite chaseable," the Mumbai batsman said.
Jaffer was the only batsman to score a half-century in India's first innings, having made 58. But he regrets the fact that he could not go on to score a century.
"It's a privilege to play at Lord's and it was nice to score a fifty, but I definitely would have loved to score a 100 here," he said.
James Anderson took 5 for 42 and Ryan Sidebottom claimed 4 for 65 as the Indian batting came undone against the two inexperienced seamers. He believes India could have batted a bit more positively instead of letting the pacers take control.
"They bowled really well in the morning, the ball was swinging around and they bowled in the right areas. Probably we could have batted a bit more positively in that period and got 30-40 runs more," said Jaffer.
"I think they were pretty well. They were bowling a very good line and the idea was not to take risks, and so we were probably a little more cautious. They bowled well and you have to give them credit, especially during that spell late on the second day. But if I had been not out, things would have been different," he added.
The right-hander is hoping for a repeat of the first innings showing from the bowlers, which saw them bundle out England for 298 runs, claiming the last six wickets for just 26 runs.
"Obviously, they are in a good position but the wicket is doing a bit, and like in the first innings, we got eight wickets for 40-odd runs, so we'll expect something like that. We have to simply bowl a disciplined line and length and wait for things to happen... rather than conceding runs and getting ourselves on the backfoot. I think apart from the first hour on the first day, when we gave away 60-odd runs, we have bowled really well to come back into the match," Jaffer said.
Jaffer believes that the pitch is still good for batting, but the wet weather has given the bowlers some assistance.
"It's an even pitch, it's good for batting and helpful for bowling when the cloud cover is there or after it rains. I think it's a good pitch. The ball is swinging and the batsmen have to play well. Apart from when the ball is new, it is swinging really well when it's a bit older," he said.
