India's Test Crisis: Washington-Kuldeep Battle Amid Follow-On Threat

Marco Jansen’s hostile spell of short‑pitched bowling ripped through India’s middle order, claiming Rishabh Pant, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja to leave the hosts reeling. Though Sundar and Kuldeep have batted for 141 balls together, India’s immediate target will be to avoid the follow‑on, which is 116 runs away.

India’s hopes of mounting a fightback after the tea break quickly unravelled when Rishabh Pant, who was seen as the one batter capable of counterattacking against the Proteas, fell for just seven. Pant’s attempt to take on Marco Jansen backfired when he danced down the pitch for a wild slog, but only edged to the keeper and burnt a review.

Jansen then compounded India’s issues by using his height to extract steep bounce that forced Nitish Kumar Reddy into fending a rising delivery and was brilliantly caught by a diving gully, who completed the grab with one hand. With Reddy departing for 10, it left India in deep trouble.

Washington Sundar, India’s best batter at number three in Kolkata, came at eight and could just see Jansen continuing to wreak havoc with his barrage of short deliveries – the latest of which climbed steeply onto Ravindra Jadeja, deflected off his shoulder and then took the outside edge to second slip. With the review confirming the edge, Jadeja was dismissed for six, leaving South Africa jubilant and India despondent.

Sundar finally managed to get going by flaying Jansen for four, before using his long reach to smack Simon Harmer for six. India survived a close call when Harmer’s appeal for lbw against Kuldeep was sent upstairs, only for replays to show the ball had brushed the glove before looping up to short leg.

Kuldeep and Sundar then dug in, displaying solid defence and application, something which was missing in their other batting colleagues, to frustrate South Africa. Kuldeep, in particular, looked assured against spin, thus underlining that the pitch held no demons. As the ball grew older, batting became easier for both Kuldeep and Sundar till lunch arrived.

While Ravi Shastri, on commentary, was critical of India’s batting, Sundar and Kuldeep reiterated that India’s woes were more about quality South African bowling and poor shot selection than the pitch itself. With the game slipping away, only a miracle could now alter the course of the contest for India.

Brief Scores: South Africa 489 in 151.1 overs (Senuran Muthusamy 109; Kuldeep Yadav 4-115) lead India 174/7 in 67 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 58, Washington Sundar 33 not out; Marco Jansen 4-43, Simon Harmer 2-61) by 315 runs.

- IANS