Dannie Byrne, as final part of his illuminating coverage of the SAF-India encounters from a neutral Englisman’s position
Harmer proves to be too good for the Indian batsmen who sink to a humiliating new low. Day 5 in Guwahati.
Harmer completed the over from the previous evening before Jansen ran in from the Pavilion End. Sudharsan was caught behind off Jansen but was rescued by the no-ball hooter as he started making the journey back to the Dressing Room. I managed to smuggle a newspaper and a bottle of water into the ground this morning and discovered that the price of an egg had suddenly risen in Guwahati market from 8 Rupees to 10. Kuldeep was dropped by Markram at slip off Harmer after 15 minutes of play. India should have been 39 – 4 instead of 39 – 2.
Simon Harmer celebrates a wicket
Another article in The Sentinel broadsheet informed me that Ms Sweety Bayan had been awarded a ph.D by Tezpur University for her thesis entitled “Conceptual Metaphors of Life and Love in Modern Assamese Poetry”. I decided to focus on the cricket and Kuldeep was bowled by Harmer’s “arm ball” ( 40 – 3 ). Jurel lasted all of three deliveries before offering catching practice to Markram at slip (42 – 4 ). Maharaj replaced Jansen and Pant hit him for a straight six. Pant hardly looked like he was going to bat all day and a good delivery from Harmer climbed sharply to take the shoulder of the bat before looping up for Markram to run around from slip to catch ( 58 – 5 ).
Harmer had figures of 4 – 14 and they nearly improved when Sudharsan edged a streaky boundary just wide of slip. The Indian excuses were being trotted out even before the game was over. There was one on the cricinfo commentary page that I found particularly amusing – “Scheduling Tea time prior to Lunch time caused major confusion in the Indian team and is the root cause of the disastrous performance”. Jadeja and Sudharsan batted for an hour without any major dramas and were starting to look quite comfortable when Jadeja hit Maharaj for a huge six over long-on. Markram replaced Maharaj at the Pavilion End just before the 20-minute break. The players walked off with the score 90 – 5 from 47 overs with 63 runs added in the session for the loss of 3 wickets from 31.1 overs.
Muthusamy replaced Harmer at the Media End after the interval and his first ball was a full toss which Jadeja smashed to the extra cover boundary. He soon found a better length and Sudharsan was caught at slip to the fifth delivery which turned in towards the batsman who still managed to get an outside edge on to the ball ( 95 – 6 ). In the next over Jansen almost got Jadeja to play on. Harmer replaced Jansen to have a bowl from the Pavilion End for the first time and Jadeja crashed his first delivery to the boundary. Markram pulled off another fine catch to dismiss Sundar off Harmer, and the off-spinner had figures of 5 – 35. Markram had now taken 9 catches in the match, a record for a non-wicketkeeper overtaking the previous high score of 8 set by Ajinkya Rahane in Galle in 2015.
Maharaj replaced Muthusamy at the Media End and Jadeja hit his first ball for a six over mid-wicket to bring up his half century from 78 balls. The ball needed to be changed, and the umpires signalled for an early drinks break. Reddy was caught behind attempting a reverse sweep to Harmer ( 138 – 8 ) possibly the worst shot played by anyone in the match so far. Among the many tricky questions the Indian selectors will be asked after the dust has settled will be one asking how his name ended up on the team sheet in the first place. Jadeja was stumped throwing the kitchen sink at Maharaj and missing the ball ( 140 – 9 ) and Siraj was miraculously caught by Jansen running back from deepish mid-on and diving backwards. It was one of the best catches I have seen in years.
India was all out for 140 from 63.5 overs. South Africa won by 408 runs. It wasn’t just a defeat it was a thrashing. Only once before have South Africa won a Test by a larger margin of runs (492 against Australia in Jo’burg 2018). Harmer ended with figures of 6 – 37 and Maharaj 2 – 37 in the second innings. India lost a Series at home to New Zealand 0 – 3 in 2024 and now they have lost both Tests to South Africa. In between they managed to beat a poor West Indies side. Prior to the New Zealand Series India hadn’t lost at home since England visited in 2012. The wheels have well and truly come off, and the engine also needs a complete overhaul.
Marco Jansen was named Player of the Match and Simon Harmer the Player of the Series. A few other statistics are worth mentioning. Harmer overtook Dale Steyn for the most Test wickets for South Africa in India. Bavuma beat Mike Brearley’s record for the most wins as a captain without losing a Test with 11 victories in 12 matches. Finally, 408 is India’s biggest Test defeat by runs. Guwahati has been a great place to watch Test cricket for the last 5 days. The people have been friendly and very knowledgeable about cricket. The crowds in the Stadium have been satisfactory on most days. There are only two problems going forward. In a country where good fortune and auspicious beginnings are so important, will the BCCI be willing to return to Guwahati ? And secondly, can the local authorities please do something about the cesspit – sewer that runs behind the stadium, as much for the benefit of the people living in the area as for the future of the ACA Stadium.
