IND vs SA 2025-26, 2nd Test, Highlights: Muthusamy’s 109 and Jansen’s 93 lift South Africa to 489; India begin reply at 9-0.
Brief Scores: Ind 9/0 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 7*) trail SA 489 (Senuran Muthusamy 109, Marco Jansen 93, Kuldeep Yadav 4/115) by 480 runs at stumps on Day 2.
In an old-fashioned Test match cricket, South Africa strolled their way to 247/6 on the opening day of the second Test. The hosts, India, made a strong comeback in the game with four wickets in the third session at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Anything beyond the 350 mark would be massive for the visitors heading deep into the game.
The surface dried down a little bit on the second day, which increased the interest for the spinners. There was little uneven bounce on the 22-yard with the batters needing to adjust to the pace of the track. They would need to be careful against the new ball early in the day’s play.
Talking point: India’s failure to wrap up the tailenders
By the time Ravindra Jadeja removed Kyle Verryenne, the Proteas were 334/7. And for the last three wickets, they added 155 runs, which could make a massive difference in the series. India looked clueless with their planning. Their field placement didn’t inspire an attacking bowling, and it seemed like they were waiting for the batters to make a mistake.
Senuran Muthusamy and Kyle Verryene’s 70*-run stand pushes SA to 316/6 at tea
Senuran Muthusamy was excellent with his technique and patience in the middle. The southpaw seemed to be meditating in the middle, with none of the bowlers being able to break through his defense. When Kuldeep Yadav went for a flighted delivery, Muthusamy got low and swept through backward square leg for a boundary. After surviving an LBW dismissal, he notched up his third Test fifty.
Meanwhile, Verreynne was equally brilliant from the other end. He made excellent judgment of the spinners’ length on the back foot and the front foot. The unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 70 runs between Verreynne and Muthusamy shouldered the Rainbow Nation to 316/6 to the tea break. The shoulders had already started to drop among the India players.
Read More: IND vs SA 2025-26, 2nd Test, Day 1: Honours shared with India slightly ahead; SA 247-6 at stumps
Senuran Muthusamy’s 107* shoulders South Africa to 428/7 at lunch
The visitors continued to show their dominance even in the second session. They also increased the scoring rate to put more pressure on Pant and Co. Jadeja broke the 88-run stand by removing Kyle Verryenne on 45. The right-hander was deceived by Jadeja’s flight before Pant stumped him. That was perhaps a scope for the hosts to pack the tail.
But Muthusamy and Marco Jansen had other plans. The former notched up his maiden red-ball century with a single punched on the sweeper cover. Meanwhile, Jansen displayed his T20 approach and raced away to 51 in just 57 balls with the help of three boundaries and four sixes.
The unbeaten 94-run stand for the eighth wicket pushed the tourists to 428/7. This was already a massive score on the board in addition to the tired and dropped shoulders in the India camp.
India negotiate scary period after SA finished on 489; hosts trail by 480 runs at stumps
Mohammed Siraj broke the 97-run stand for the eighth wicket with the dismissal of centurion Muthusamy. Jansen continued his brutal batting from the other end before slowing down a little once he reached close to the three-figure mark. The change of game plan brought his downfall on 93 as he chopped on to the stumps. SA finished with 489 on the board.
With the floodlights on, it was one of the hardest conditions to bat. Both India openers (Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul), already tired, negotiated the half-an-hour perfectly as the umpires called stumps. The hosts finished with 9/0, trailing by 480 runs.
Read More: Reasons why India batters find themselves vulnerable against spin in the current era
What to expect on Day 3
The Proteas will be happy with close to 500 runs on the board. The only way for India to win from this situation will be to take at least a 100+ lead and then look to bowl out the visitors cheaply in the second innings. On the other hand, South Africa will hope to pick up the wickets.
Statistical highlights from IND vs SA, 1st Test, Day 2, Guwahati
- The seventh wicket partnership of (88) runs between Senuran Muthusamy & Kyle Verreynne is the highest for this wicket for South Africa in Tests in India.
- Kyle Verryenne and Senuran Muthusamy’s seventh-wicket stand lasted 236 balls. It’s the second-longest partnership for the seventh wicket or lower for SA in Asia, only behind the ninth wicket stand of 109 off 259 balls between Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander in Pune 2019.
- Senuran Muthusamy brought up the 33rd Test hundred for South Africa, for a no. 7-11 batter.
- Senuran Muthusamy’s 109 is South Africa’s third-highest Test score at number seven in Asia. Kyle Verryenne’s 114 against Bangladesh in Mirpur leads the chart.
- Marco Jansen and Senuran Muthusamy record South Africa’s second-highest Test eighth-wicket stand (97) in Asia.
- Marco Jansen record South Africa’s highest Test score (93) at number nine in Asia. He overtakes Patrick Symcox’s 81 in Faisalabad.
- Marco Jansen overtakes Ab de Villiers (06) to record South Africa’s most sixes (07) in a Test inning in Asia.
- Ravindra Jadeja joins Harbhajan Singh to record India’s second-most Test wickets (42) at home against South Africa. Ravichandran Ashwin leads the chart with 46 wickets.
Jansen unfortunate to fall 7 short of maiden century, but his blazing 93 and masterclass ton by Muthuswamy have put India under gr8 duress to square series. Just over 3 days remain. Runs have to be scored at fair clip, sizeable lead must got, then take 10 SA wickets again. Tough
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 23, 2025
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