South Africa batter Tristan Stubbs took the blame upon himself for not converting a good start into a big score after making 49 in the team’s total of 247 at the end of day one of the series-deciding second Test in Guwahati.
On a red-soil wicket, which played better than the Eden Gardens pitch, South Africa performed well in the first two sessions before losing four wickets in the final session, giving India the advantage on the opening day. Stubbs described it as a better wicket for batting.
“I definitely think it’s a better wicket for batting. You can bat time, but you look up and the scoreboard has sort of gone nowhere. I do think they bowled quite well — the seamers especially — just keeping tight lines, attacking the stumps, and basically bowling to contain.”
Stubbs acknowledged that the hosts bowled well but underlined the missed opportunities by the Proteas batters.
“So I think they bowled nicely, but all of us had opportunities, and if you look at it, no one kicked on, so we can take that blame on ourselves,” he added.
South Africa experimented with their batting line-up by sending Stubbs in at No. 3. Whatever the team asks of him, Stubbs is happy to do it.
“It’s not the easiest thing, moving around, but whatever the coach asks, I’m just happy to be in the team. I have worked a lot on my defence as I had been a white-ball player, and then being asked to go in at number three, so I grafted hard on my defence. I find that at number three you can afford to be a little bit more defensive,” he emphasised.
South Africa will look to add as many runs as possible with four wickets in hand on day two.
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