Former India coach Ravi Shastri slammed the Indian batters after a horrific collapse on Day 3 of the Guwahati Test against South Africa, calling the performance “very ordinary” on a surface he felt offered no demons.
His criticism came soon after Shaun Pollock remarked that some of the dismissals were “soft,” adding that such wickets might have been understandable “if they had come off some brilliant deliveries.” The former South African pacer even walked viewers through a few of the dismissals to underline India’s culpability.
“This is still a good surface. This is not a pitch to be 142 for 7. Ordinary batting. India won’t be one bit happy. You have to put your hands up and say that’s very ordinary batting,” Shastri summed up as India crumbled under sustained pressure from the visitors.
The collapse was triggered by a series of preventable errors. KL Rahul lunged at a Keshav Maharaj delivery with his hands well in front, only for the ball to pop off the splice for a straightforward catch in the slips. His opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, after a fluent half-century, fell to a delivery that seemed to stop on him, check-punching it straight to short third man.
Sai Sudharsan, recalled to the XI, squandered a promising start by pulling a harmless Simon Harmer delivery to midwicket. Dhruv Jurel, who had successfully taken on Harmer in the first Test, chose the wrong bowler for the same shot, dragging a wide Marco Jansen delivery to mid-on.
Rishabh Pant’s dismissal left Pollock shaking his head. The wicketkeeper-batter charged down the track for what the commentator described as an “old-school slog,” attempting to drag a ball angled across him. He feathered an edge and, puzzlingly, reviewed the decision despite the spike showing up clearly.
Replying to South Africa’s imposing 489, India limped to 174 for 7 at lunch, sinking deeper as the day progressed. Only Jaiswal (58 off 97) and Washington Sundar (33*, later extending the stand) offered resistance on a day when the rest of the batting order fell apart against disciplined bowling. Marco Jansen was relentless, finishing with 4 for 43, while Harmer chipped in with 2 for 61.
By tea, the hosts were 102 for 4 and lost three more wickets in the second session. Kuldeep Yadav (14*), along with Washington, held strong in an unbroken seventh-wicket partnership worth 52 off 141 balls—an effort that prevented India from sliding into an even deeper hole.
