India Sports Tribune

GUWAHATI, INDIA: South Africa defeated India by 408 runs in the second of the two-match Test series at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday, November 26. With this win, the current World Test Champions whitewashed the hosts 2-0 and took home the series quite comfortably. Batting first in Guwahati, the Proteas ran up a mammoth 489, getting bowled out only in the 152nd over.

Although everyone in their batting unit contributed, it was lower-order batter Senuran Muthusamy, better known as a spinner, who top-scored with a 206-ball 109. His stay at the crease included 10 boundaries and two sixes. All-rounder Marco Jansen, again better known for his left-arm seam bowling, missed out on his century by seven runs, getting out for 93. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav was the only Indian bowler to extract some turn out of the placid surface, returning with figures of 4-115.

When India walked out to bat, the pitch seemed to sport demons, and they promptly got all out for 201, with Yashasvi Jaiswal leading the way with 58, followed by Washington Sundar’s 48. Jansen returned to scalp 6-48 with the ball and instigate India’s collapse. In the second innings, South Africa scored 260-5 before declaring their innings closed, with Tristan Stubbs scoring 94. He took the Indians on and gave them no margin for error whatsoever, with only left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja scalping four wickets.

Set a gigantic 559 to chase in the fourth innings of the match, India’s batters capitulated just as meekly as they had done in Calcutta last week, getting bowled out for a mere 140 runs on the board. South Africa’s spinners, led by Eden hero Simon Harmer (6-37), dismantled the feeble-looking Indian batting unit, with no one save Jadeja (54) offering any resistance.

This spineless performance of the Indian batters will haunt them in the long run, as they continue to drop crucial World Test Championship points at home. Head coach Gautam Gambhir will be rightly questioned for his tactics of using all-rounders in place of specialists, as his record drops to five home losses now. He has now lost more home Tests inside a year than his three immediate predecessors – Rahul Dravid, Ravi Shastri and Anil Kumble – did in a decade. India have already lost 10 Tests in his tenure.

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