South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad explained the decision to delay the declaration on the penultimate day of the ongoing second Test in Guwahati, saying the Proteas wanted to make the tired Indian players bat before stumps under dimming light.
The Proteas declared their second innings at 260/5 in the final session after batting for two sessions earlier in the day.
After being in the field for almost 79 overs, the exhausted opening pair Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul walked out, only to lose their wickets inside the first ten overs at the fag end of the day.
“We wanted India to come out after lunch and spend time on their feet,” said Conrad at the press conference on Day 4. “Their bowlers spent a lot of time out there. We saw the effects of batting for two full days in the first innings. It was never going to be easy for their opening batters to come out this evening, especially with the new ball and shadows across the wicket. We felt we could strike there.”
Conrad revealed that the visitors wanted the ball to remain hard and ‘new-ish’ going into the final day, while also acknowledging that there was assistance for the pacers in the evening.
“We looked at how best we could use the new ball so that in the morning we’d still have a new-ish, hard-ish ball. What we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there is something in it for the quick bowlers. We didn’t want to declare too early and not be able to use that,” added Conrad.
Having reduced India to 27/2 at stumps on Day 4, South Africa need eight wickets on the final day to secure victory and hand India their second home series whitewash in a year.
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