Last Updated:
Ashwell Prince admitted SA’s batters never settled on a tough Kolkata surface, calling their soft dismissals costly and insisting they need to “play the conditions” next innings.
South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder, right, and batting partner Tony de Zorzi walk off the sector for lunch on the primary day of the primary cricket test match between India and South Africa in Kolkata, India, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
South Africa’s arrival in India might have been a bit higher had their middle order sustained greater than two sessions. Despite a good start given by the openers – Ryan Rickleton and Aiden Markram — the promising start after the primary hour was squandered. The Proteas batting unit failed to fireplace, registering just 159 in 55 overs – their second-lowest first-innings rating against India.
Wiaan Mulder, Tony de Zorzi, and Kyle Verreynne all fell in similar fashion shortly after getting set. The collapse began immediately after lunch, triggered by the combined pressure of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Sensing the emergence of reverse swing, Mohammed Siraj struck twice in a single over, trapping Verreynne lbw and bowling Marco Jansen.
Axar maintained the pressure, claiming Corbin Bosch with a straightening delivery. Ultimately, the tailenders didn’t support specialist batter Tristan Stubbs, allowing Bumrah to tear through the lower order, securing two more wickets in a single over to finish his sixteenth Test five-wicket haul and surpass Mohammad Shami’s tally.
Questions were plenty when South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince spoke to the media after the stumps on Day 1. Surprisingly, the previous Proteas batter failed to provide one solid answer to handle the visitors’ batting failure.
“If you have a look at the scorecard, quite a number of of them can be dissatisfied at attending to 20 or 30 after which getting out. Firstly, we’ve got to provide credit to the Indian bowlers, as loads of them were pretty good. Secondly, my assessment of the surface is that the bounce will not be consistent. The signs were there pretty early on in the primary over,” Prince told the media.
“Very often, while you expect batters to get to twenty or 30 and grow in confidence, I don’t particularly imagine that any of the batters grew in confidence due to inconsistency of the bounce. What can occur is that you simply don’t trust the surface as much as you need to after spending an hour on the crease. After which, in fact, while you face a top quality bowling attack, they as a rule get the ball within the danger area, and it does an excessive amount of for you. Unfortunately, that’s been the case today,” he added.
It was simply a display of poor shot selection by the South African batters. Eventually, the pressure creeped in and people who looked to repair the damage at one point, ended up throwing away their wickets. However the game isn’t over yet and the Proteas may have one other shot to glory.
“I’m sure we’ll have some discussions about which kind of options we will take—more aggressive options,” Prince said.
“Everybody’s got his own character and elegance. More often than not, we ask people to play inside their character, but obviously, we have now to take the surface into consideration. Next time round, within the second innings, we have now to play the conditions. These are the conditions; how can we be more practical on it? I’m sure we’ll have a discussion around that this evening,” he added.
Even India had their share of struggles, especially bagging under the setting sun with flood lights on. Keshav Maharaj made it tough for KL Rahul with turning deliveries. But patience took the hosts through those 15-20 minutes before stumps. Something that was lacking in South Africa’s approach.
So, is pitch the priority? Prince shunned making any opinion, quite said it’s a matter of debate.
“We didn’t intend to make any assumptions concerning the pitch before the Indians had a probability to bat on it. They’ve faced about 60 deliveries, and it’s a clumsy period to bat, which might suggest that it’s not a free-scoring pitch. Having said that, they still have nine wickets in hand, and there’s no rush for them when it comes to time. From our viewpoint, we would like them to have a minimum of 150 to chase within the second innings, which suggests we’ll need to keep that lead as small as possible. Then, hopefully, we will set something up within the second innings,” Prince said.
‘Rabada Missed Big Time’
The South Africans are without their premium bowler, Kagiso Rabada, who was ruled out of the primary Test on account of a rib injury. While uncertainty looms over his participation within the Guwahati Test as well, the batting coach admitted that his absence has been felt already.
“He [Kagiso Rabada] is a world-class bowler, probably one among the highest two or three seam bowlers on the planet. We’ve seen what damage one among the opposite best seam bowlers on the planet (Jasprit Bumrah) can do on that surface.”
“So, he’ll definitely be missed on this surface because I do think it is definitely aiding the fast bowlers,” Prince said.
A cricket enthusiast whose dreams of playing for India paved the best way for a compelling journey in journalism. With a comprehensive coverage spanning international and domestic cricket across formats, I actually have had …Read More
A cricket enthusiast whose dreams of playing for India paved the best way for a compelling journey in journalism. With a comprehensive coverage spanning international and domestic cricket across formats, I actually have had … Read More
November 14, 2025, 21:47 IST
Read More