IND v SA, 2nd Test: Stubbs says not easy to be shifted up and down batting order

South African batter Tristan Stubbs, who scored 49 off 113 balls on day 1 of the second Test against India in Guwahati on Saturday, said a mental adjustment was needed to adjust to his promotion up the order

A specialist middle-order batter, Stubbs was promoted to No. 3 by head coach Shukri Conrad.

“It’s not the easiest thing moving around but whatever the coach asks, I’m just happy to be in the team. I have worked a lot on my defence as I had been a white ball player.

“….and then being asked to go about at number three, so I grafted hard on the defence and because I find that at number three, you can afford to be a little bit more defensive,” he added.

“The change is not so much technical, but mental. (It’s) probably (about) tightening your game plan, especially if it’s doing a bit up front and maybe checking your scoring options.”

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Better wicket for survival

After the degree of difficulty faced by batters in Kolkata, the Barsapara Stadium seems like a better track for surviving, although it is not one where a batter can play free-flowing strokes.

“I definitely think it’s a better wicket for batting. You can bat time, but you look up and the scoreboard’s sort of gone nowhere.

“I do think they bowl quite well, the seamers especially, just kept bowling straight lines, attack the stumps, and they sort of bowled to contain.

“So I think they bowl nicely, but all of us had opportunities, and if you look at it, no one kicked on, so we can take that blame on ourselves,” he added.

Published on Nov 22, 2025