IND vs SA, 2nd Test: Muthusamy, Jansen blunt hapless Indian bowling to put South Africa in front
Even in its most optimistic visions, South Africa wouldn’t have visualised the second day of the Guwahati Test to unfold the way it did.
The Proteas, starting the day at 247 for six, blunted a hapless Indian bowling attack for nearly three straight sessions to post a mammoth first-innings total of 489, dousing the enthusiasm of a sizeable weekend crowd.
The visiting side’s batting surge on Sunday was fuelled by two career-best knocks – Senuran Muthusamy’s maiden Test hundred and Marco Jansen’s flamboyant 91-ball 93.
The home bowlers toiled hard without much success on a sedate ACA Stadium pitch, which granted assistance to neither spinners nor pacers.
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In response, openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal played off the last half an hour of play, helping India knock off nine runs from its deficit.
Earlier, Muthusamy batted with a sense of authority that far exceeded his limited experience at the highest level – this is just his eighth Test.
The left-handed batter was largely untroubled by the Indian pacers, nullifying Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah primarily off his front-foot defence.
Against home spinners, Muthusamy relied largely on his back-foot play, regularly turning them behind square on the leg side for comfortable singles.
The 31-year-old was the master of his destiny until he fell to Siraj’s short-ball ploy in the final session. The only ‘lucky break’ he needed was a favourable third-umpire decision early in the day.
Muthusamy, batting on 48, misread a flatter delivery from Ravindra Jadeja and was adjudged LBW by the on-field umpire after an attempted sweep.
But the decision was overturned by a DRS review, after the third umpire spotted an extremely faint spike in the snickometer when the ball passed Muthusamy’s gloves. He quickly shook off the incident as he continued on accumulating runs.
Muthusamy’s innings was also the bridge between South Africa’s two contrasting approaches on Sunday – the single-minded stonewalling early in the day and the no-holds-barred ambush later on.
While Kyle Verreynne offered the steel in the former phase, Marco Jansen added the muscle in the latter.
Jansen’s freewheeling outing extended further after Muthusamy’s departure, helping South Africa propel further ahead in the game.
The South African all-rounder made effective use of his tall reach, as he peppered the Indian bowlers with lofted shots, particularly targeting long on and deep mid-wicket. He whacked seven sixes on Sunday, with four of them coming against Jadeja.
Jansen’s big hits helped South Africa make significant ground after an opening session where the team progressed at a glacial pace – 69 runs at 2.36 an over.
But those were runs accrued with barely a risk to the wickets column, as Muthusamy and Verreynne made an evident effort to play the ball along the ground.
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With his bowlers unable to fashion wicket-taking chances, Indian skipper Rishabh Pant was forced into spreading out his field for the spinners. This enabled Muthusamy and Verreyne to pick off easy singles as they batted into Tea.
Verreyne’s resolve was eventually broken by Jadeja, who pushed the ball away from the onrushing South African batter to have him stumped.
His dismissal, though, sparked a radical change in intent from the visiting side as Muthusamy and Jansen went on an adventurous streak, which lifted South Africa to what seems to be a dominating position.
No team has ever scored as many runs in the first innings of a Test in India and then gone on to lose the game. It is a stat that will likely be replayed quite a few times in the coming days. It will also be a stat that would put South Africa at ease as it chases a historic series win.
Published on Nov 23, 2025
