Left-arm spinner Murali Karthik defended his fellow spinners in the Indian team, saying there was nothing on the "lifeless" track for them and that made their task difficult in the first cricket Test against South Africa at Kanpur on Sunday.

"It is not easy to get wickets on this pitch. There is no bounce, there is no life. It's lifeless, these have been deterrent factors for the bowlers," Karthik, who went wicketless for two days in a row, told reporters after the second day's play.

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"As a bowler you want the track to have more carry and zip, which is not there. The few people who saw the pitch said it is a good one for batting. The ball may turn slowly at a later stage.

"We will also bat well on this track. We have the batsmen, we can bat well," he said.

Asked whether he was surprised to have been introduced into the attack after the 32nd over today, the Railways player said: "you don't think about such things. We had taken the new ball and then both [Anil] Kumble and Harbhajan [Singh] were bowling well and looked like taking a wicket.

On whether he was surprised by the South African batting on the first two days, he said: "I don't know the preparations they had before coming here. It seems they have come here with the mindset to draw the series. They should have tried to be more positive".

Karthik, when asked whether the Indians are adapting a negative line by bowling on the leg stump or outside, said: "it's not a negative line. We had to try and do something different. A couple of balls did something but it was not happening on a consistent basis".