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India all-rounder Washington Sundar defended the batters' performance against South Africa in the second Test. He particularly defended the duo of Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant, both of whom lost their respective wickets by trying to play aggressive shots. Sundar remarked that they weren't reckless with their shots, but rather just failed to get the execution right and it led to the fall of their wickets. While Jurel departed for an 11-ball duck, Pant was dismissed cheaply for 7.
“On another day, both of the boys’ shots would have gone into the stands and all of us would have appreciated and clapped. Sometimes you have to back their plans and their skill sets, given the proof they’ve shown in the past as well. It’s just that the execution didn’t go the way we wanted,” Sundar said during the post-day press-conference.
India began their innings on a solid note
Notably, India got bundled out for just 201 runs against South Africa on Day 3 of Guwahati Test. Despite starting on a solid note with a 65-run opening stand between Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the Men in Blue ended up suffering a batting collapse at 95/1 and lost their next six wickets for the space of just 27 runs, leaving them at 122/7 at one stage.
Sundar and Kuldeep save India from humiliation
Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav's robust 72-run partnership saved India from what would have been a total embarassment and massively helped them in getting their total over the 200-run mark. Marco Jansen was the star performer for the Proteas, recording figures of 6/48 while Simon Harmer also contributed well by racking up three scalps.
South Africa took a humongous 288-run lead as they had earlier posted a massive total of 489 on the board thanks to superb knocks from Senuran Muthusamy (109) and Marco Jansen (93). However, despite being far ahead in the game, the visitors decided to not enforce follow-on and came out to bat for their second innings. Openers Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton ensured that they didn't lose any wickets in the eight overs that they played during the day. They wrapped up the day on 26/0, taking a gigantic 314-run lead into Day 4.
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