The last wicket-less session for India at home was a month back in Delhi, during a late West Indies uprising. But the way their bowlers were foiled by the South Africa lower order has no recent precedent.
Senuran Muthusamy’s defiance (109), Marco Jansen’s belligerence (93) and Kyle Verreynne’s resourcefulness (45) covered Day 2 in near-entirety to deflate India early in the second Test. It will take a herculean feat, and a fast one at that, for the hosts – 0-1 down in the two-Test series – to bounce back after conceding 489 in over 151 overs at the ACA Stadium.
Batting under floodlights and lavender skies, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (7 not out) and KL Rahul (2 not out) survived as play closed three minutes before the scheduled stumps with India at nine without loss.
Sunday morning brought the Guwahati crowd in larger numbers as wicketkeeper Verreynne and Muthusamy tried to take South Africa to safer waters from the overnight position of 247/6 by eschewing all risk.
For 175 balls in the session, Verreynne’s unexciting footwork and Muthusamy’s discreet nurdles gave the Proteas a foothold in proceedings. The visitors employing the heavy roller in the morning denied the Indian bowlers any help, even with the second new ball still in play. The cherry would go out of shape in another 10 overs, but even the changed one offered no respite.
Jasprit Bumrah’s early morning spell lasted three overs. He returned for only two more in the session. Mohammed Siraj kept pounding in, but Muthusamy and Verreynne didn’t budge. With a drier and flatter surface in play, there wasn’t anything to boost the spinners either.
Kuldeep Yadav, India’s prime wicket-taker on the opening day, would resort to flatter lines. Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja followed suit as the turn dissipated from the pitch.
“There was a bit of moisture in the wicket, so I got a bit of turn in the first session, but after that it was very good to bat on. There wasn’t any turn yesterday as well as today. Today was much better to bat on even though we bowled really well,” said Kuldeep, reflecting on a grinding day’s work.
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