IND vs SA LIVE: Muthusamy’s gritty fifty piles pressure on India
India vs South Africa Live Score: India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate believes the Barsapara Stadium pitch suits the home team’s current strategy, though he was quick to stress that the outcome of a Test match is ultimately determined by the quality of the sides, not the wicket. The first day of the second Test against South Africa saw the visitors reach 247/6 after electing to bat, with several top-order batters falling after getting starts on a surface that offered some resistance to scoring.“My personal point of view is that the wicket very rarely determines who wins the game. If we’d played better in Kolkata, I feel we could have won the Test on that surface. But having said that, you’ve got to introspect and look at recent results. These sort of wickets maybe do suit us a little bit better,” Ten Doeschate said at the end of Day One.The assistant coach praised India’s team composition, noting that playing two fast bowlers, a pace-bowling all-rounder, and three spinners could pay dividends on this track. “The template for us is probably closer to this, than playing on some of the wickets we have played on. You’ve got to be prepared to fight really hard and this game is going to go deep. Make sure you stay in the game.”Comparing Barsapara to the Kolkata pitch, Ten Doeschate described it as a massive contrast. “We were expecting a better wicket [in Kolkata]. It was pretty lifeless. Here, Tristan Stubbs mentioned it was quite hard to score as well. I think it was just good old-fashioned attritional Test cricket.” He added that the drift of the match would become clearer after both teams complete their first innings and that batting will likely become more difficult in the third and fourth innings.Kuldeep Yadav’s three-wicket haul on Day One stood out, with the left-arm wrist-spinner using drift, dip, turn, and bounce to full effect. “We know Kuldeep’s strike rate is phenomenal. With the red soil and a little more pace, maybe he was slightly more effective in the conditions today,” Ten Doeschate said. He also expects finger spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar to play a key role as the match progresses.Looking ahead, Ten Doeschate was optimistic about the pitch holding up for India’s first innings. “There hasn’t been much wear and tear. Fingers crossed that it lasts and plays well for the next few days,” he said, underlining the importance of a consistent surface in shaping a competitive Test.
