Legendary pacer Dale Steyn slammed India's bowling strategy on Day 2 of the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati, citing a lack of adaptation and overly defensive field placements.
Trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, the hosts were 9/0 at stumps after the Proteas racked up a massive 489/10 in their first innings despite being at 247/6 at the end of opening day’s play.
South Africa’s lower-order proved to be the nemesis for Indian bowlers. Senuran Muthusamy and Kyle Verreynne shared an 88-run stand for the seventh wicket, before the former added another 97 alongside No. 9 Marco Jansen.
"I thought they bowled well up to a point, but at times they didn't move away from their original plan. They stuck with Plan A for too long and didn't really switch to a Plan B or C. At moments, they were a bit too defensive--when a batter walked in, there was a long-on, long-off, and deep square, which allowed the batter to settle with easy singles before India brought the field back in," Steyn said on JioStar's 'Cricket Live' show.
"They could have been more attacking early on and tried to force the batters to hit into one side of the field. They kept bowling straight at the stumps, which opened up both sides--the off and the leg. In Kolkata, that plan worked because the pitch demanded it, but on a flatter wicket like this, they needed something different," he added.
Muthusamy notched up his maiden Test century, scoring 109 runs, while Jansen took the Indian attack to cleaners with 93 runs off 91 balls, including six boundaries and seven sixes.
Former India spinner Anil Kumble shared insights on Jansen's performance and his partnership with Muthusamy.
"It's never easy when the lower order contributes like that. Marco Jansen completely took the game away from India in that session, especially with the way he looked to hit sixes. He clearly trusts his batting; he's carrying more than four bats, and he definitely needs a long blade. He was outstanding against the spinners and even took on the short ball. Perhaps towards the end he got a bit lazy, trusting his timing too much while looking for singles to get to his hundred. But it was a fantastic innings, and his partnership with Muthusamy ensured South Africa didn't just cross 400--they went close to 500," Kumble remarked.
