Guwahati: Grovel. That’s the word South Africa coach Shukri Conrad chose to use when asked why they had delayed the declaration against India on the fourth day of the second Test here. It probably wasn’t done in bad faith, as Conrad mentioned he was “stealing a phrase” from the interview of England captain Tony Greig before the 1976 home series against Clive Lloyd’s West Indies that fired up the visitors to a 3-0 win. But it definitely could have been avoided.
That phrase lives in infamy because of its racial tone, spurring the West Indies fast bowlers to ensure Greig had to pay for it every innings he came out to bat, making that series one of the most tense in the history of the game.
This rivalry doesn’t have that kind of premise, but the failure to win in India for the last 25 years has driven this South Africa team to push themselves. Already 1-0 up, South Africa were understandably keen on outbatting India.
“We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase, bat them completely out of the game and then say to them well come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening,” said Conrad.
Also central to this plan was the interesting ploy of exploiting the extending shadows cast by the stadium in the last hour of play.
“We obviously look at how best we’re going to use the new ball. So that in the morning we still want a newish, hardish ball,” said Conrad. “Also what we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there’s something in it for the quick bowlers. So we didn’t want to declare too early and not be able to use that. And then obviously we wanted India to spend as much time on their feet out in the field.”
Rarely have India been made to chase the leather to this extent at home. And now comes the final frontier of playing out the fifth day on a pitch where the ball is expected to turn a lot. Winning is out of question, so the job of drawing the game becomes even more difficult. Jadeja knows it won’t be easy.
“Tomorrow is Day 5, so the ball will turn more and bounce more,” he said. “That’s the expectation. So we will have to bat well. Take it session by session. If we don’t give a wicket in the first session, then there will obviously be pressure on the bowlers that they need to bowl us out. For us that will be a win-win situation if we can bat the full day out tomorrow.”
Even if India manage a draw, the series will have been lost, making it a rarest of rare occasion where India have lost two home series in the span of 13 months. For a team in transition under a new coach, there can be no lower low than this. Jadeja however hopes India will learn from this.
“Nobody wants to lose the series, especially in India,” he said. “The more you play cricket, the more new experiences you get. So as a cricketer for me and for the team it is challenging so we accept that we will accept this challenge. We will not deny it, and say why has this situation come or why are we having to play in this situation.
“If it has come, we as players have to take the positives and move on from it. Our attitude will be positive and it will help the team. All the individuals will look to give their 100%. Whichever batter goes to bat tomorrow will look to give their best only.”
