Sitanshu Kotak’s critique stirs dressing-room insecurity as India confront their Test identity on Guwahati ‘road’

Shitanshu Kotak’s assessment deepened India’s batting insecurities, with Kuldeep Yadav’s ‘road’ remark framing the challenge after South Africa’s 489.

‘A road’. That’s how Kuldeep Yadav described the surface at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati for India’s must-win second Test that has been a batting beauty over the first two days.

India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak (R) inspects the pitch between India and South Africa Test match(AFP)

This ‘road’ is in stark contrast to the minefield at Eden Gardens last week, when wickets tumbled like nine pins, the Test lasted only eight sessions, and South Africa comfortably defended a fourth-innings target of 124.

Perhaps in response to the stringent criticism that followed the Kolkata fiasco, or because Guwahati wanted to give a good account of itself on its debut as a Test centre, the 22-yard strip has challenged bowlers immensely over two light-affected days. India lost another toss – their third in four home Tests this season – and were confronted with the most demanding bowling conditions.

To their credit, they hardly embarrassed themselves; a South African first-innings tally of 489 might not readily suggest so, but much of it stemmed from the depth in the visitors’ batting, the fact that India’s attack had so many overs in their legs by the time Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen joined hands in a punishing eighth-wicket stand of 97 and that the day-two pitch became even better for batting than it was on Saturday.

South Africa’s luck with the coin toss notwithstanding, India had the better of the exchanges on the first day which the visitors ended on 247 for six. But with the moisture disappearing completely, the ball hardly deviating off the surface either for the spinners or the seamers and the bounce true and predictable, Muthusamy and Jansen, the Nos. 7 and 9 respectively, were able to construct deflating hands of 109 and 93, their best Test scores each.

Jansen’s counter-attacking effort which contained seven sixes -- the most by a visiting batter in a Test innings in India -- put the surface in perspective. India were tired and dispirited, and Jansen cashed in, defanging first-day hero Kuldeep, the seasoned Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and the crack pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj with ridiculous ease.

India still unsure about the right home pitch

Which begs the question – what kind of surface must India lay out to maximise home advantage? Dustbowls take the toss out of the equation but bring the opponents’ spinners into play; flat tracks can be counter-intuitive if India lose the toss, like they did in this game as well. Much of this dilemma is of their own making because India have tied themselves up in knots in desperately setting out seeking World Test Championship points which they can earn by producing pitches like the ones on offer during the home series against England early last year, where their greater quality and class carried the day in the last four Tests.

Shitanshu Kotak, the batting coach, touched upon some of the deficiencies of India’s batters on surfaces that help the spinners inordinately. Most telling was his take on ‘trusting one’s defence’, which modern-day batters are found wanting in. In this Indian side, for instance, the only batters capable of batting time, which is a byproduct of having a secure defensive technique, are KL Rahul, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. The rest are free-scoring batters who begin to feel the pinch if they are kept scoreless for even a half-dozen deliveries.

Rahul, say, has the Zen-like concentration that allows him to take the score board off his mind in Test matches, even though he is a wonderful finisher in 50-over action. This paradox is because of his strong basics. Like injured skipper Shubman Gill insists, formidable five-day basics can spur a successful white-ball career, but the other way round is impossible to accomplish. If India veer from their recent ill-fated adventurism with square turners – a tack that backfired against New Zealand last year and in Kolkata last week – and turn to truer surfaces, it will necessitate them to grind out victories.

Ahead of the Test series against West Indies last month, Gill indicated that that’s the brand of cricket he’d like to see – attritional, unyielding and the willingness to go the distance. That’s exactly what confronts them in Guwahati. Gill isn’t around to spearhead the challenge, but he and head coach Gautam Gambhir, under sustained fire for selling his batters short, will watch the exchanges over the next three days with renewed interest.

Kotak also alluded to lack of footwork as one of India’s Achilles’ heels. Footwork isn’t just dancing down the track, but also going back if the length so warrants to maximise the depth of the crease. Batters are reluctant to leave the crease even in domestic cricket because bowlers don’t give the ball enough airtime. That is as much a fallout of a profusion of limited-overs cricket as is soft hands going out the window, because this is the era of range-hitting, not dropping the ball down harmlessly with use of wrists or working the gaps to keep the board ticking over.

The most India have conceded in the first innings at home in a winning cause is 478 (by Australia in Bengaluru in 2010). They will have to top that if they aspire to square the series, a tall order that will test the approach and mindset of the batting group. In so many ways, Guwahati is India’s greatest ‘test’. It will be interesting to see how they respond in the time left in this game.