Chasing more than 200 runs always seemed to be an improbable task for the South African batters against the superb Indian bowling unit in the second Test match in Johannesburg and now South Africa batsman Keegan Petersen also revealed that his team will be hoping to keep India's lead under 200 in the second Test match as anything more will be difficult to chase on a pitch that is getting tougher by the day.
The duo of Cheteshwar Pujara (35 not out) and Ajinkya Rahane (11 not out) showed good form in the back-end of Day 2 as India recovered to 85 for 2 from 44 for 2 to take an overall lead of 58 runs.
"The more they get the more it's gonna be for us to get. It's a difficult bowling attack to come up against," Petersen, who was South Africa's top-scorer in the first innings, said after day two's proceedings.
Anything under 200 a good total
"So realistically, I'd say anything under 200 maybe would be a good total to chase but the more they get, the further away it makes for us."
Against a top quality Indian bowling, the 28-year-old scored his maiden half-century - 62 off 118 balls - in his fourth Test match.
Petersen's 118-ball knock came to an end just before the lunch after he was caught at second slip by Mayank Agarwal after he edged the ball off the bowling of Shardul Thakur.
Pitch is not getting easier to bat on
"It's gonna be tough in the rest of the Test. Pitch is definitely not going to get easier to bat on. There was some top quality bowling attack this morning that kept us on our toes all the time," Petersen said.
"So I'm happy... I wish I could have done more to put the team in a better position. But we will take it as it comes.
"They (Indian bowlers) came out all guns blazing. It was a challenging two hours in the morning session. Both the conditions and the way they executed their plans, it was just good bowling and very tricky." Petersen credited his dad Dirk Petersen for his solid technique that was on full display on day two.
