Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes the hosts, despite going 0-1 down in the series against South Africa, still have a chance to stage a comeback, but only if Gautam Gambhir is willing to take a bold tactical gamble. South Africa remain in complete control at the end of day two in the second Test in Guwahati, still leading India by a massive 480 runs.
The visitors’ dominance was built on two outstanding lower-order efforts: Senuran Muthusamy’s maiden Test century and Marc Jansen’s counter-attacking 93 off 91 balls. Ttheir partnership helped South Africa post an impressive 489, bear down the Indian bowlers with patience, resilience and smart shot selection.
With India trailing well in the match, Shastri urged the team to abandon a defensive and time-consuming approach. Instead, he wants them to score briskly, hit the board and force South Africa to bat again – even if that means declaring up to 100 runs behind the opposition.
“Tactically, India will have to make a call tomorrow. See how they get through the new ball, then take the game forward and force a win. They will have to call the shots, which means you might want to declare it behind and then try to outrun the opposition quickly in the second innings,” Shastri said on Star Sports.
“You have to take a chance. You can’t wait to bat 489 – it will take too long. They might have to declare 80, 90, even 100 runs behind and we’ll see how it goes,” he added.
Historically, on 33 occasions in Test cricket, teams have lost in the second innings, but only three of those gambles have resulted in victories. India have done it four times but never won. Their only defeat came in 1948 against Australia in Melbourne when they declared a deficit of 103 runs.
The other three occasions – trailing Pakistan by 41 in Faisalabad (1978), England by 1 in Kanpur (1982) and England by 4 in Nagpur (2012) – have all ended in draws. It remains to be seen whether India will make any desperate moves to win the Test and level the series at 1-1.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
November 23, 2025
