The Guwahati pitch is like a “road”, Kuldeep Yadav had said after the second day’s play on Sunday. His teammate and off-spinner Washington Sundar termed it “a very good, true wicket.”
India, especially the batters, were clueless before the South Africans.
At stumps on Day III, with South Africa leading by a massive 314, India have their backs to the wall in this second and final Test. Deciding not to enforce the follow-on after bowling India out for a modest 201, South Africa were 26 without loss in their second essay at the end of Monday’s play.
The visitors are very well placed for their first series win on Indian soil in 25 years, while for India, hope is all they can bank on. “You’ve got to stay positive in life. You never know what will happen,” Washington, who contributed with 48 after being again pushed down the order to No. 8 from No. 3, said at the news conference later.
In all fairness, this Barsapara Stadium pitch is easier for batsmen compared to the one that had been on offer at Eden Gardens in the opening Test. But on Monday, the South Africans showed that if bowlers hit the right lengths and varied their pace accordingly, the pitch certainly had something to offer.
Marco Jansen and Simon Harmer did so, and were paid the dividends. Off-spinner Harmer extracted awkward bounce to prevail over a confident-looking Yashasvi Jaiswal (58) after Keshav Maharaj deceived KL Rahul with variation in length and pace to break the 65-run opening stand.
The Indian innings was in disarray thereafter, more so, with rash, atrocious shots from Dhruv Jurel and stand-in captain Rishabh Pant, gifting their wickets to Jansen and worsening the situation for their team. Instead of acknowledging that those strokes were absolutely unnecessary given the situation India found themselves in, the Indians feel it was just a matter of execution going wrong, especially the shot Pant attempted, charging down the track to a short-pitched delivery.
“Obviously, execution didn’t go the way we wanted. But on another day, the bowlers would have gone into the stands and all of us would have appreciated and clapped. That’s how it is,” Washington said.
“Sometimes you just got to back their plans and their skill sets as well, given the fact that they have shown a lot of proof and evidence in the past.”
However, Washington did show better application than some of his more fancied teammates as without the 72-run eighth-wicket stand between Kuldeep and him, the scoreline would have been even more embarrassing for India. Strikingly, this frequent shuffling of his batting position, too, isn’t “unsettling at all” for the off-spinner all-rounder.
“Honestly, I really want to be the cricketer who steps up whenever the team requires and wherever the team wants me to bat and bowl. I have got to be ready,” he said.