Conrad Vows South Africa Will Go All Out to Seal Historic Series Win in India

Guwahati: South Africa wanted to make India grovel and force them to spend far more time on the field than they would have preferred, which is why the visitors batted an hour into the third session on day four of the Guwahati Test. By stretching their lead to 548 before declaring, they effectively shut the door on any possibility of an Indian victory, as per ESPNcricinfo.

This was head coach Shukri Conrad's reasoning when asked why South Africa felt the need to set India a target far beyond the record chase of 418, especially in a series they already lead 1-0.

"We obviously looked at how best we were going to use the new ball, because in the morning we still wanted a newish, hardish ball," Conrad said, as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

"What we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there's something in it for the quick bowlers, so we didn't want to declare too early and not be able to use that," he added.

"And then, obviously, we wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field, we wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase, bat them completely out the game, and then say to them 'Come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening.' So, so far so good, but we also know that they're not just going to roll over, we're going to have to be at our very best in the morning," he noted.

South Africa have not won a Test series in India since 2000, nor had they won a single Test since 2010 until their Kolkata triumph last week. With momentum finally on their side, they have dominated the Guwahati Test from day one and were determined to make the most of the situation. Batting first, they recovered from 247/6 to post 489, then bowled India out for 201. Even though they could have enforced the follow-on, the visitors opted to bat again late on day three and continued deep into day four, keeping India on the field for a tiring 229.4 overs. India will begin day five at 27/2 after 15.5 overs, with South Africa needing eight wickets for a rare series sweep.

With 90 overs scheduled for the final day, though poor light has eaten into play on all previous days, South Africa have given themselves a minimum of 106 overs to bowl India out. Conrad admitted that the pitch had stayed remarkably good for batting.

It had taken them 83.5 overs to bowl India out in the first innings, with Marco Jansen's steep bounce earning him figures of 6/48. Since then, Conrad said they had expected the surface to deteriorate a little bit more than it actually has, but felt an earlier declaration would have been pointless. He insisted South Africa would be satisfied with whatever result emerges, even if the match ends in a draw.

"I don't think there's a right and a wrong in anything. We wanted India to come out again after lunch and spend time on their feet. We saw the effects of batting for two full days in the first innings and what sort of effect it had on them," he said.

"And it was never going to be easy for the opening batters to come this evening, with the new ball and shadows across the wicket. We felt we could have struck there. If tomorrow evening comes and we have them eight down and people say, 'Well, see you told you so'... we've got to base it on our sound judgement and if that doesn't work out, it doesn't. I don't think there's a right and wrong in any of this but obviously, 2-0 is a lot better than 1-0. I'd like to think that the series is secured and we're going to go all out for the win," he noted. (ANI)

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