Kolkata wicket was different, this is a road, says Kuldeep about Guwahati pitch
India spinner calls Guwahati wicket difficult for the bowlers but says this is Test cricket and one should enjoy it
Guwahati: Eleven wickets had fallen on the first day of the Eden Gardens Test, 15 on the second, all for only 282 runs. Here, 10 wickets have fallen in two days for 498 runs. Right now, India are bearing the brunt of this disparity, having lost the first Test and staring at a first innings deficit of 480 runs. The toss didn’t prove to be too big a factor at Eden, but it’s certainly proving to be otherwise here. Bigger point is, if pitches are supposed to be prepared for home advantage, how did India mess it up so spectacularly?
“Kolkata’s wicket was different, this is a road,” said Kuldeep Yadav, who returned 4/115, at the press conference here on Sunday. “It’s challenging and that’s why it’s called a Test wicket. It doesn’t happen every day as a bowler. You always think of dominating, but when you get a good wicket then it’s also very important how you come back. The way we bowled yesterday, we were in very good control but obviously, in one session there was a partnership so we got a little behind in the game.
“It was a difficult wicket for the bowlers because I didn’t feel that there was a lot of help in this wicket, even for fast bowlers it didn’t seem like a lot of help. But yes, this is Test cricket and you should enjoy it. The more you learn, the more you mature, you shouldn’t think so much about the wicket.”
The morning began with the pitch not troubling South Africa, but Senuran Muthusamy did call it an ‘attritional’ day anyway because Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were not allowing them easy runs. Once spinners were introduced though, South Africa slowly started stringing more boundaries.
“Personally, I felt yesterday in the first session there was a bit of moisture in the wicket so I got a little bit of turn there. After that it was very good to bat on,” said Yadav. “There wasn’t any turn yesterday as well as today. Jadeja and I have been talking about it but the wicket is very good to bat on.”
Notwithstanding how the pitch was favouring batters, not attacking South Africa with more close-in fielders and longer spells with spinners was probably a trick India missed here. Marco Jansen and Muthusamy took advantage of that, getting sixes off all the spinners and asking questions of India’s strategy. Yadav, however, felt attacking all the time could have been counterproductive. “I mean, obviously it’s very good to have an attacking mindset but you have to understand how the wicket is playing and you can’t just go attacking all the time and just leak runs,” he said.
All the five main bowlers bowled at least 25 overs each on Sunday but puzzling was how Yadav got only 12 overs in the entire day, especially when he had looked most potent among the spinners.
Could he have bowled more? Yadav smiled. “No, all good,” he said. “I mean for that I have to be the captain and yes, I’m very happy with whatever number I bowled, we got 4-5 bowlers and everyone bowled really well. You have to keep changing and you can’t just keep bowling from one end, so I don’t have any issue with that. I bowled 30 overs (29.1); 30 overs is good for any wrist spinner.”
