GUWAHATI: There was a strange energy in both press conferences after Day Four of the second Test between India and South Africa. The hosts, needing a further 522 runs to level the two-match series, declared that they, at best, would draw the match.
That result would be a 'win-win situation' for the team, Ravindra Jadeja said.
Minutes later, Shukri Conrad, the South African coach, said 'we wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase'. That particular wording has a historical racism context to it. It (the word 'grovel') was used by Tony Grieg, a white English skipper who grew up in Apartheid South Africa, just before the West Indies came to play a series in England in 1976. It produced a reaction from the visitors who subsequently beat the hosts 3-0 in a lopsided Test series.
Conrad, though, didn't appear to utter those words in bad faith. He meant it within the context of already tired Indian bodies and minds spending a few extra hours on the field when asked why the declaration didn't come before lunch.
"What we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there's something in it for the quick bowlers," Conrad explained the rationale for giving India only an hour to negotiate on Tuesday evening. "So we didn't want to declare too early and not be able to use that. And then obviously we wanted India 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 of the game and then say to them 'well, 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 tomorrow (Wednesday) but those are the factors that we considered here."
While Jadeja had pretty much admitted that they weren't going for the win, Conrad liked to think that they had already secured the series. "Obviously 2-0 is a lot better than one zero, but like I said, this game never ceases to amaze us but I would like to think that the series is secured..."
Barring a performance for the ages from India, SA are on the verge of winning their first series since 2000. How have they managed to turn it around? Paying attention to their spin department and putting in a lot of effort before the group departed for the Pakistan series. "I think the big prep was before the Pakistan series," Conrad said. "We had a couple of days camp where we tried to mimic the conditions we were expecting both in Pakistan and here. I also think the fact that we sent the Test boys back after the Test series (in Pakistan) to stay nice and fresh for this because this was going to be a big series for us. Every series is big but I mean this is uncharted waters for us..."
Since that 2000 batch won two Tests, the intervening period has seen various South African teams win only two further games from 2001 to 2019. If all goes well for the world Test champions on Wednesday, they will have equalled that tally inside two weeks. For Jadeja and India, the contrast will be striking. Both teams would celebrate a draw on Wednesday but only one team would truly be happy.