Dale Steyn Slams India’s Lacklustre Day 2 Performance In Guwahati: ‘I Thought They Bowled…’ | Cricket News

Jasprit Bumrah celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of South Africa’s Simon Harmer (Picture credit: AP)

Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has said that the Indian bowlers were stuck on Plan A and even when it didn’t work, they didn’t move to Plan B, which led to South Africa posting a massive score in their first innings and putting India into a troublesome situation.

Star all-rounders Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen overshadowed India’s finger spinners in favourable batting conditions, delivering crucial lower-order contributions as South Africa took control of the second Test with a huge first-innings total of 489 in Guwahati on Sunday.

Trailing 0-1 in the two-match series, India were 9/0 in 6.1 overs when stumps were drawn in fading light and now face a massive task on Day 3.

“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,” Steyn said while speaking on JioStar. 

“At moments, they were a bit too defensive–when a batter walked in, there was long-on, long-off and deep square, which permitted the batter to settle with easy singles before India brought the field back in,” Steyn added.

Muthusamy, fresh off a match-winning 89* against Pakistan in Rawalpindi last month, notched his maiden Test hundred, a gritty 109 off 206 deliveries, while Jansen tore through the spinners.

“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,” former India cricketer Anil Kumble said. 

“He clearly trusts his batting; he’s carrying more than four bats and he 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,” Kumble added.