Senuran Muthusamy and Kyle Verrey kept the Indian bowlers wicketless in the first session on the second day of the second and final Test cricket match here on Sunday, as South Africa scored 316 runs for six wickets in their first innings at the tea break.
At the time of tea break, Muthusamy was playing on 56 and Vereen was playing on 38 runs. Both of them took South Africa’s innings to 247 runs for six wickets in the morning and did not give any chance to the Indian bowlers. Both of them have so far added 70 runs for the seventh wicket.
Left-handed batsman Muthusamy presented a brilliant example of his defensive technique and scored the third half-century of his Test career. Wicketkeeper batsman Vereen had some trouble initially but after that he settled down well and hit some attractive shots.
Barsapara pitch looked flat on which India’s two spinners Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja could not make any impact in the morning session. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who gave India a comeback by taking three wickets on the first day, also could not put pressure on the batsmen.
It is not known whether the Indian team management and their data analysts had done any homework on Muthusamy, who recently played a key role in his team’s victory with an unbeaten 89 in the second Test against Pakistan.
Not only this, his average in Test cricket is more than 46. When he was declared LBW on Jadeja’s ball, he saved the wicket by taking DRS, because TV replays showed that the ball had touched his gloves.