India are staring at a humiliating defeat and a series whitewash with South Africa posting an improbable victory target of 549 for the hosts, who are precariously placed at 27 for 2 at the end of the fourth day of the second Test. The Proteas are all charged up to bowl out the Indians with an entire day’s play remaining and record their first series triumph in India in 25 years.
After South Africa declared their second innings at 260 for 5, India were reeling at 27 for 2 at stumps on Tuesday, having lost openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) to Marco Jansen and KL Rahul (6) to Simon Harmer.
Sai Sudharsan (batting at 2) and night-watchman Kuldeep Yadav (batting at 4) were at the crease but it will take a Herculean effort from the remaining batsmen to save the game on the final day and avoid the ignominy of a 0-2 whitewash. The only saving grace for them could be the fact that light fades quickly here after 3:45 pm and not more than 80 odd overs have been possible on any of the past four days.
Head coach Gautam Gambhir will certainly prefer a 0-1 series defeat over a 0-2 result, which would be the second series debacle at home against a SENA nation in the past 12 months.
On the fourth day, the reigning World Test Champions had two targets. First was to set a target that would be virtually out of reach. Secondly, the more time Proteas spent batting on the fourth day, stronger became the chances of the red soil track crumbling on the fifth day.
Tristan Stubbs (94 off 180 balls), who missed out on a half-century in the first innings by a solitary run, this time fell short of a Test ton by only six runs. Once Stubbs became Ravindra Jadeja's (4/62 in 28.3 overs) fourth victim, skipper Temba Bavuma declared the second innings, having knocked the stuffing out of the Indian team by making them bowl for 78.3 overs.
Stubbs enjoyed a 101-run stand for the fourth wicket with Tony de Zorzi (49) and another 82 for the fifth wicket with Wiaan Mulder (35 not out). This was after a 50-plus opening stand between Ryan Rickleton (28) and Aiden Markram (35).
Bavuma, an experienced captain, looked tactically superior compared to India's stand-in skipper Pant, who looked bereft of ideas in his debut in the leadership role, albeit in a one-off game. The pitch still looks solid, even though the degree of turn from less than three on the first day has now gradually increased to 4.6 on the fourth day. That was evident when Jadeja, who hardly gets any purchase in helpful batting conditions, tossed one up to Aiden Markram and lured him into playing a forward defensive stroke.
The ball pitched on the middle stump, turned sharply away from Markram's outside edge while clipping the off-stump. A few overs later, it was Bavuma, who fell for a leg-side trap set by Washington Sundar as he got one bouncing and turning into his rib cage. The tickle was taken down at leg-slip by Nitish Reddy. However, after that dismissal, both Washington (1/67 in 22 overs) and Jadeja stopped getting any appreciable turn and once the ball went soft, Stubbs and De Zorzi played their strokes with ease.
Pant's tactical calls and field placements also left a lot to be desired as he would constantly switch between "in-out" field (half close in and a few in deep) to five fielders in the deep to save boundaries. There was a point after which it felt that the Indian team was just playing the waiting game, looking for Bavuma to declare the innings at some stage. The Indian skipper also couldn't give Kuldeep (0/48 in 12 overs) more opportunities to bowl as he was being hit for runs.
Brief scores:
South Africa: 489 & 260 for 5 declared in 78.3 overs (Ryan Rickelton 35, Aiden Markram 29, Tristan Stubbs 94, Tony de Zorzi 49; Ravindra Jadeja 4/62).
India: 201 & 27 for 2 in 15.5 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 13, KL Rahul 6).
Also read: South Africa tighten grip as India trail by 480 in Guwahati Test
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