Muthusamy anchors Proteas in second India test

Senuran Muthusamy scored his third half-century as South Africa batted through a wicketless session to reach 316 for six at ‘tea’ on the second day of the second test against India at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday morning.

Resuming on 247 for six with Muthusamy on 25 and Kyle Verreynne on a single, the tourists blunted India’s bowling attack with skilled defence and admirable patience while collecting singles, rotating the strike and collecting half a dozen boundaries from the rare poor balls bowled.

Muthusamy reached his 50 from 121 balls with six fours, including a couple of sweep shots and three backfoot punch shots to the cover boundary, while Verreynne reached 38 from 94 deliveries with just four boundaries, including two late cuts against left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

India’s frustration became more and more obvious as the spinners bowled quicker in a desperate bid for a breakthrough, but the extra pace negated whatever turn was available on a good batting surface.

The only moment of alarm came when left-hander Muthusamy missed a sweep shot against Jadeja on 48 and was given out lbw. His review appeared to be based on the hope that he was outside the line of off stump, but replays showed that the ball had just touched his glove before hitting the pad.

Just 69 runs were scored in the session, but it was the two hours used by the seventh wicket pair which might be as important as the runs, with the wicket almost certain to deteriorate rapidly on the final three days of the game, putting a massive premium on runs scored on the first two days.

Muthusamy will resume on 56 after the break, having faced 131 balls and taken his test batting average above 50.

Play began at 9:00am local time, with the 20-minute ‘tea’ break coming after the first session and the 40-minute lunch break after the second session to maximise the limited daylight in the east of the country at this time of year.

INDIA: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (captain/wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj

SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (captain), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj.