The South African coach, however, conceded that Virender Sehwag's almost run-a-ball 165 unsettled his side.
Van Zyl said the Proteas failed to execute their plans against Sehwag and another centurion Sachin Tendulkar (106) but felt his side are still in the game.
"I think Sehwag's innings was unsettling to everybody.
The fact that he scores very quickly and obviously he gets the crowd behind him, all of that is unsettling. That is the time when you got to stick to game plans and get back to the basics. I thought sometimes we didn't do that and that is the strength of Sehwag," he said after second day's play.
"It was a very hard day for us. Some really good batting but also we didn't execute our game plans well. But I think those last two wickets out of which two were really big it has set us up for a good day three," van Zyl said.
The visiting coach felt the Indians got to a 46-run lead because of the impatience of his bowlers.
"I think our patience was definitely lacking. We did apply patience at times in Nagpur. That is one thing as a team we can improve upon and that is patience as a bowling attack.
I won't say we panicked. We need to go and understand we why didn't execute according to our game plans," he reasoned.
"We are happy with three wickets we took. That brought back balance to the game. We need to look at few things, set up in a few areas," added van Zyl.
Van Zyl also hailed Tendulkar's century -- the Indian's 47th in Tests and 91st international hundred.
"He (Tendulkar) is a special. Those are two different innings, both of them are very important. Sachin is very special, the way he plays, a workman like innings, nothing different today," said van Zyl.
In the final session when Sehwag was on 128, replacement wicketkeeper AB de Villiers missed an easy stumping and the coach said his side missed the services of Mark Boucher.
Van Zyl said the Proteas failed to execute their plans against Sehwag and another centurion Sachin Tendulkar (106) but felt his side are still in the game.
"I think Sehwag's innings was unsettling to everybody.
The fact that he scores very quickly and obviously he gets the crowd behind him, all of that is unsettling. That is the time when you got to stick to game plans and get back to the basics. I thought sometimes we didn't do that and that is the strength of Sehwag," he said after second day's play.
"It was a very hard day for us. Some really good batting but also we didn't execute our game plans well. But I think those last two wickets out of which two were really big it has set us up for a good day three," van Zyl said.
The visiting coach felt the Indians got to a 46-run lead because of the impatience of his bowlers.
"I think our patience was definitely lacking. We did apply patience at times in Nagpur. That is one thing as a team we can improve upon and that is patience as a bowling attack.
I won't say we panicked. We need to go and understand we why didn't execute according to our game plans," he reasoned.
"We are happy with three wickets we took. That brought back balance to the game. We need to look at few things, set up in a few areas," added van Zyl.
Van Zyl also hailed Tendulkar's century -- the Indian's 47th in Tests and 91st international hundred.
"He (Tendulkar) is a special. Those are two different innings, both of them are very important. Sachin is very special, the way he plays, a workman like innings, nothing different today," said van Zyl.
In the final session when Sehwag was on 128, replacement wicketkeeper AB de Villiers missed an easy stumping and the coach said his side missed the services of Mark Boucher.
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