Despite India’s collapse for 201 against South Africa in the Guwahati Test, all-rounder Washington Sundar defended the pitch, calling it a ‘very good’ and ‘true wicket’ for batting, suggesting runs were there for the taking.
Indian all-rounder Washington Sundar said that the Guwahati pitch for the ongoing India vs South Africa Test is a “very good” batting wicket and is not a track where you can you can contain runs for too long.
India, after conceding 489 runs in the first innings, got all out for just 201 runs in the second innings of the Test, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington being the only batters to cross the 30-run mark. After facing a defeat in the series opener in Kolkata, India’s chances to level the two-match series against South Africa look grim, as they currently trail the match by 314 runs.
A ‘true wicket’ for batting
Washington, who scored 48 runs in India’s total of 201 runs, said that the Guwahati pitch is not a snake pit and that such tracks are a rarity in India, calling it a “true wicket.” “It wasn’t a snake pit or whatever you may call it. It’s a very good wicket. It’s a true wicket. Not many days you’ll get to bat on such tracks, especially in India. Honestly, it’s a true wicket. If you spend time there, runs are for the taking. You can’t really contain runs for a very long period of time. I think it was just a good wicket,” Washington said during the post-day press conference.
Credit to Marco Jansen’s bowling
Notably, on a good batting surface, the South African bowling all-rounder, Marco Jansen, made life tough for the Indian batters, claiming figures of 6/48. When asked if Jansen extracted uneven bounce from the pitch, Washington denied there being anu unevenness in the pitch, crediting Jansen for his bowling.
Washington said that on another day, the Indian batters would have played the same deliveries much better. “It wasn’t uneven at all. It’s just that he’s obviously the tallest going around and he gets that bit of sharp bounce off a short of good length. We’ve played such bowlers quite a lot. Just on another day, we would have batted the same deliveries a lot better and it would have seemed like a very different scenario,” said Washington. (ANI)
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