The opening day of the second Test between India and South Africa in Guwahati on Saturday saw the teams trade blows almost evenly, with the visiting side ending with 247 for six at Stumps.
Indian assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate believes his side picked wickets at crucial moments to prevent the game from drifting away.
“I thought both sides accounted for themselves very well. I thought we stuck at it brilliantly. Just when the game was slipping away, a couple of times, we managed to get a foothold back into the game,” said ten Doeschate at the press conference after Day 1.
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“[Jasprit] Bumrah’s wicket before the first break and Kuldeep’s [Yadav] straight after. And then that last wicket at the end of the day probably makes it more or less an even day. [It was] real hard toil and first-innings runs are going to be very important.”
The surface on offer at Guwahati has remained predictable so far, in terms of bounce. South Africa’s effort on Saturday is the first time a team has breached 200 in this series.
“Yeah, I thought it’s a massive contrast from the Kolkata pitch, for one thing. We were expecting a better wicket. I thought it was pretty lifeless, but I’ve just heard Tristan Stubbs say that it was quite hard to score as well. I think it was just good old-fashioned attritional Test cricket,” observed Ten Doeschate.
The Indian coach added that he expects the pitch to hold up further into the game.
“I don’t think there was any evidence to suggest that it’s [Guwahati pitch] deteriorating quite yet. I thought it played really nicely. So hopefully it stays in this sort of shape for at least an even amount of period for both teams to cash in on the first-innings scores.
“We just went to have a look at the pitch now. There are some foot marks and some tiny ball marks, but nothing to suggest it’s dry or cracking at the top. So fingers crossed that it lasts and plays well for the next few days,” said Ten Doeschate.
The former Dutch international also offered a rationalisation for the Indian team’s decision to bring in Nitish Kumar Reddy for Axar Patel into the playing XI.
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“I think the way we assessed the wicket. We thought it might do a little bit this morning. Obviously, if you play two seamers, you have to go to spin very early, and it’s difficult for the captain to juggle just two seamers. Obviously, if you go for an out-and-out seamer, you’re one batter less.
“So on balance, we thought it was the best strategy to play the bowling all-rounder [Nitish], someone who we feel can get big runs as well. As it turned out, we didn’t feel that you needed any more seam than just the two today, but we still feel it’s the right balance with four days to go in the Test.
Published on Nov 22, 2025