India vs South Africa 2nd Test: How the Guwahati pitch is expected to behave

The pitch for the second Test between India and South Africa in Guwahati has become a big talking point, especially after what happened in Kolkata. The Indian team lost their first home Test match to the Proteas in 15 years after failing to chase just 124 in the final innings on Day 3.

The pitch started turning sharply, and South Africa’s spinners Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj troubled the Indian batters with big spin to win by 30 runs. Even though the Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir defended the surface after the game, many fans and experts want a pitch in Guwahati that lasts for all five days .

What to expect in Guwahati?

According to reports, the surface at the Barsapara Stadium is made of red soil and has a light cover of grass. It looks similar to the Ahmedabad pitch used for the West Indies Test last month, but with less grass. A part of that grass could also be cut before the match starts.

Red-soil pitches usually provide spin and bounce as the match goes on. Fans can expect the spinners to take control from Day 3 onwards in Guwahati too. But there might be some help for fast bowlers as well in the first two days. Batters are also expected to get some help from the surface at the start.

However, nothing can be said for sure, as the first Test in Kolkata proved. It showed that no matter how much one tries to prepare or control a pitch, the outcome can still be unexpected. Gambhir said after the match that the Kolkata pitch was exactly what the team wanted and that the batters failed to apply themselves.

But India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said that the Kolkata pitch behaved in a completely unexpected way. Kotak explained that the team only wanted a little bit of spin because spin is India’s strength, but the first Test pitch broke apart much earlier than expected.

He admitted that Gambhir’s comment was meant to divert the criticism away from the Eden Gardens pitch curator . Kotak made it clear that nobody wanted a two-day match or a pitch that offered sharp turn from the start.

“When Gautam came for the press conference after the match and took all the blame on himself – he said we had asked for [that pitch] – he did that because he felt the curators shouldn’t be blamed,” Kotak said.

“What happened in the last match, after the first day, you could see that [the pitch] was crumbling, a bit of soil was coming [off the surface]. That wasn’t expected. Even if we had expected that much spin, it was after the third day, or on the evening of the third day. Even the curator didn’t want this. No one wanted what happened,” he added.