Indian spinners struggle as South Africa seize control of second Test in Guwahati

Senuran Muthusamy’s maiden hundred and Marco Jansen’s explosive 93 powered South Africa to 489 in the second Test against India in Guwahati. Indian spinners struggled on a flat track, leaving the hosts trailing 0-1 in the series at stumps

Guwahati: Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen made Indian finger spinners look ordinary in good batting conditions with invaluable lower-order contributions as South Africa seized control of the second Test by posting a massive 489 in their first innings here on Sunday.

Trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, India were nine for no loss in 6.1 overs when stumps were drawn in fading light.

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Muthusamy, who had scored a match-winning 89 not out against Pakistan in Rawalpindi a month ago, hit his maiden Test hundred, a gutsy 109 off 206 balls, while Jansen sent the spinners on a proverbial leather hunt with a smashing 91-ball 93.

The last four Proteas batters from Nos 7 to 11 added a whopping 243 runs. Muthusamy and Verreynne added 88 for the seventh wicket, while the centurion added another 97 runs with number nine Jansen.

During his belligerent effort, Jansen smashed seven sixes, the highest by an overseas batter on Indian soil, surpassing Viv Richards and Matthew Hayden, both of whom had hit six maximums.

The South African innings lasted for 151.1 overs and the plight of the Indian bowlers could be gauged by the fact that this was also the first time that all five specialist bowlers had to bowl 25 or more overs in a single innings.

Rishabh Pant’s captaincy did not have a plan B and it also did not help matters that the track at the Barsapara Stadium showed no signs of wear and tear.

While Kuldeep Yadav (4/115 in 29.1 overs) deviated from his plans from the opening day and bowled a lot faster, credit should be given to Muthusamy, Kyle Verreynne (45 off 122 balls) and Jansen for reading him well from the hand.

Since Kuldeep increased the speed of his deliveries, it curtailed the chances of getting drift which had yielded results on the opening day.

 

Fingers pointed at finger spinners

However, what hurt India the most was the bowling of the two finger spinners, Ravindra Jadeja (2/94 in 28 overs) and Washington Sundar (0/58 in 26 overs), whose figures did not narrate the whole story.

Time and again, questions have been raised about Jadeja and even Washington’s ability to be penetrative on tracks that do not turn sharply from day one.

The second day was best for batting and neither the off-spinner nor the left-arm orthodox got balls to either turn or bounce. They tried to rush the batters but negligible zip from the pitch ensured they had no difficulty in defending.

The only bowler who looked a bit penetrative was Jasprit Bumrah (2/75 in 32 overs), who manfully led the attack and also briefly got the ball to reverse in the second session. But no pressure applied by Jadeja and Sundar meant that after a certain point even his shoulder drooped.

The performance of the two finger spinners is a pointer towards the tendency of Indian team managements — from the time of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma — to demand rank turners.

Both Jadeja and Washington play a lot of white-ball cricket which has diminished their ability to bowl slightly slower through the air, allowing the ball to deviate and grip after pitching.

Too much of T20-style bowling brings in a certain kind of speed where the bowler is only looking to restrict the batter.

In white-ball games, this style of bowling can either get the spinner a wicket as the batter tends to attack, but in Tests one can wait till the bowler changes his line and length.

Once Muthusamy and Verreynne saw off the first session, the second became a cakewalk as Jansen plonked his front foot and smashed Jadeja and Kuldeep over long-on repeatedly to destroy the confidence of the Indian unit.

The Indian team would hope that its batters also reap the fruits of good batting conditions and try to make a match of it. The last time an opposition team scored 450-plus in this country and India still won was in Chennai in 2016. It was the match where Karun Nair got a triple ton after England had scored 477 in the first innings. But Jadeja had run through the England side with a seven-wicket haul in the second innings.

The red soil tracks have a tradition of staying compact for the first two days and in the last two days, they can crumble at a breakneck speed. India would hope Jadeja can relive that magic in favourable conditions. PTI