South Africa’s bowling coach Piet Botha feels the wicket at the Barsapara Stadium will be much better for batting but he is interested in knowing if the Indian curators will be shaving off the liberal covering of grass from the red soil track. The second and final Test starts here from Saturday with India trailing 0-1 after the defeat on a challenging Eden Gardens pitch in Kolkata.
“As far as the pitch is concerned, obviously I had a look at it this morning, it’s still two days to go. So it’s difficult to predict if they will actually shave off more grass or not. That will obviously make a difference,” Botha said during an interaction with media ahead of the Test.
“But what we have heard is that it seems to be a good batting track up front, and spin comes into picture late. But we’ll have to wait and see, maybe it starts earlier, and what the previous Test turned out to be,” Botha, who has 217 first-class wickets, said.
Botha believed that with a 9 am start, which is 30 minutes earlier than the standard start time for Test matches in India, the new ball will have a big role due to the underlying moisture. “The game’s starting at 9 o’clock, obviously it will be a little bit cooler. It’s quite hot at night, but obviously there will be a bit more moisture, so I think in terms of the first hour, the new ball should play a role. For how long, we are not sure, we’ll have to see,” he said.
“If the wicket is good to bat on, then batting first is a good option, but if the track is like the one in Kolkata, then it hardly matters,” he added. “If the ball starts turning from day one, sometimes it (batting first) doesn’t really play a role, because it becomes a low-scoring game, like the last one, and then sort of batting first, second, doesn’t play as big a role.
“But if the pitch is going to play decently the first two days, then you obviously want to bat first, and hopefully it spins later on, and that’s the reason you will want to bat first, so you can get those conditions later on and play to your advantage,” he explained.
On the team front, he didn’t seem to be optimistic about Kagiso Rabada playing the second game after missing the first one due to a ribcage injury. Simon Harmer, South Africa’s hero in the first game, had a slight shoulder niggle in Kolkata, for which he had consulted a specialist and seemed to be doing fine. “Rabada has been under medical observation. Obviously he wasn’t at the practise today but we will take a call in the next 24 hours.”
We are monitoring Rabada: Botha
Guwahati: South Africa’s bowling coach Piet Botha has not ruled out Kagiso Rabada’s participation in the second Test against India, starting here from Saturday, despite the lead pacer’s absence from training on Thursday.
Rabada, one of the world’s finest fast bowlers and the South African pace attack’s lynchpin, missed the opening Test in Kolkata after suffering a rib injury during a training session ahead of the match.
“We are monitoring Kagiso Rabada and we will take a call in the next 24 hours,” Botha told reporters on the pacer’s participation in the second Test. Guwahati is hosting a Test match for the first time and the pitch at the Barsapara Stadium is an uncharted territory for both teams.
“The wicket (in Guwahati) we are told is a good batting track. But a lot of difference happens in terms of whether you keep grass or not. With two days left we will have to wait to see whether it starts turning earlier,” Botha said of the track.
The South Africa bowling coach is also hopeful of off-spinner Simon Harmer, one of the heroes of the the visitors’ memorable win in the first Test at Eden Gardens, spinning a web around the Indian batters in the final game of the short series while also ruling out any issue with his fitness.
“No problems with Simon Harmer’s shoulder. If ball starts turning as early as it did in Kolkata, he will be dangerous with so many left-handers in the line up. “(We) had a look at it this morning. Still two days out, so it’s difficult to predict if they’re going to actually cut more grass or not. That will obviously make a difference,” Botha said at the press conference after the team’s outdoor nets session.