‘Yeh to pura road tha’: Kuldeep Yadav’s reaction to Guwahati pitch in 2nd Test vs South Africa

The Indian bowlers struggled to extract any purchase from the Guwahati strip as the South African lower order, led by Senuran Muthusamy (106) and Marco Jansen (93) made merry, helping the visitors to post a massive 489 runs.

Kuldeep Yadav of India during the Day 1 of the 2nd Test match between India and South Africa at ACA Stadium, Guwahati, India, on November 22, 2025. (CREIMAS for BCCI)

With the Barasapara stadium track offering little to no help for the bowlers, India’s wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav compared it to a road when asked about his opinions on playing on the Kolkata pitch and the Guwahati one. “Kolkata ka wicket toh alag thaa. Yeh to pura road tha (Kolkata’s wicket was different and this was a whole road). So it’s challenging and that’s why it’s called a Test wicket,” Kuldeep said on Sunday after the end of day 2’s play.

The Indian bowlers struggled to extract any purchase from the Guwahati strip as the South African lower order, led by Senuran Muthusamy (106) and Marco Jansen (93) made merry, helping the visitors to post a massive 489 runs. At Stumps on Day 2, India had Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul in the middle, batting at 7 and 2 respectively.

“Even for fast bowlers it didn’t seem like a lot of help, but yeah, this is Test cricket and you should enjoy it. You should enjoy, learn more and the more you mature, you shouldn’t think too much about the wicket. You should go there and play. Next Test, there could be a better wicket, so no complaints,” Kuldeep said.

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“Personally I felt yesterday first session, there was a bit of moisture in the wicket, so I got a little bit of turn there in the first session. After that it was very good to bat on. There wasn’t any turn yesterday as well as today. Today was much better to bat on because I hardly got any turn. Even me and Jadeja we have been talking about that,” he added.

After the erratic nature of the Kolkata pitch which was a batter’s nightmare where India failed to chase 124 runs in the 4th innings, getting skittled out for 96 on Day 3, the Barsapara wicket was a polar opposite where the bowlers failed to create much impact. Kuldeep was the pick of the lot, taking 4 wickets for 115 runs after bowling 29.1 overs.

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