Former Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujarafeels India will be disappointed after letting South Africa score 489 in their first innings in the second Test of the two-match series. The tourists batted 151.1 overs across almost six sessions to end up on 489.
Pujara's comments came after Stumps on Day 2. He mentioned that the hosts would have been much more satisfied had the Proteas' final four wickets fallen earlier than they did.
“The Indian bowlers put in a lot of hard work, but the result didn’t go
in their favour. There will be a little disappointment in the dressing room for sure, considering the way they bowled yesterday. They had picked up six wickets for less than 250, and even if they had got the remaining four wickets for 100 to 125 runs, they would have still been happy,” stated Pujara during an interaction on Star Sports.
The cricketer-turned-commentator reiterated his point and reckoned that the Indian bowlers should have ensured that the final four wickets fell before the first innings total crossed the 350-run mark.
“However, 489 is too many, especially since a lot of runs were scored for the last four wickets. Even if around 350 runs were scored on this wicket, one couldn't have said bad bowling, but more than 450 should probably not have been scored, especially since you had dismissed the top-order batters and taken six wickets on the first day,” he added.
South Africa were reduced to 247/6 at the end of Day 1. They batted an additional 69.2 overs on the second day to get to the aforementioned score. Senuran Muthusamy top-scored with 109 off 206 to his name. Marco Jansen, coming in at No. 9, also contributed 93 off 91. Kuldeep Yadav (4/115 in 29.1 overs) was the pick of the bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, who bowled 32 overs and 30 overs, respectively, secured two wickets apiece.
India trail in the series after losing the series-opening clash in Kolkata by 30 runs. It will be interesting to see how they approach proceedings with the bat in Guwahati. At least for now, South Africa have the upper hand in this contest.
