IND v SA: Meet Senuran Muthusamy, the man who frustrated India on Day 2

The World Test Championship (WTC) crown at the Lord’s, where they had shocked Australia last June, seems to have infused a major dose of self belief in this South African team.

Not only did they find two unlikely heroes in a ton-up Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen on Sunday, the later known to India’s cricket fans more as a IPL regular, the Proteas have virtually batted the hosts out of the second and final Test in Guwahati.

When Jansen missed his century by seven runs, being the last wicket to fall to Kuldeep Yadav with only half an hour’s play left, South Africa had piled up 487 – the frustration being complete for the Indian team as well as an impressive turnout at the Barsapara Stadium. The last four wickets had added 241 runs for the visitors and the pressure is now on India to bat out of their skins to save the Test on a wicket which had shown no signs of wear and tear.

 If Senuran’s 109 was a study on how a resilient No.7 should knuckle down for a rearguard action, the tall and lanky Jansen was simply irreverent in his approach.

He clobbered seven sixes, all against the Indian spinners who were struggling to make an impact – creating a new record of maximum number of sixes against India in a Test innings. The names of two batters who are in second position with six sixes to their name are interesting: Sir Viv Richards and Matthew Hayden.

As the spin trio looked ineffective, including Kuldeep despite his four-wicket haul, the pressure was telling on a tireless Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj – with the two bending their backs for 32 and 30 overs, respectively, for two wickets apiece.

This brings into question the role of Nitish Kumar Reddy as the third seam option as in a scenario when five mainline bowlers bowled more than 25 overs each, captain Rishabh Pant could only place faith in him for five overs.    

  When Senuran, the allrounder from Kwa-Zulu Natal province punched Siraj for a couple on the offside to reach the three figures, the crowd rose in applause for his efforts. When he came in on Saturday at 201 for five, it looked the Indian bowlers had done a fair job in not allowing the South African batters to build on their starts. However, when he finally left to a tired pull against Siraj, the visitors were 427 for eight with the pressure building on India.

 ‘’I had come here in 2019 and we were beaten badly. Today, I was trying to accumulate the runs as first innings are very important here. Marco (Jansen) then gave the charge from the other end and it was awesome to watch as he is such a clean striker of the ball,’’ said the spinning allrounder with Indian origins in Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.

The last time India bounced back to win a Test after the opposition scored 450-plus runs was nine years back in 2016 against England in Chennai – the same Test which saw Karun Nair graft the only triple century for India in Tests.

 For those ploughing through the searches on Senuran, he had been primarily a lower order batter for Dolphins in South African franchise cricket who had scored a matchwinning 89 not out against Pakistan in the last Test he played on their way to India.

Born into the generation of Born Frees in 1994 when democracy came into their country, Senuran was among those who had access to equal opportunities from childhood, and he made full use of them.

 He was schooled at Clifton, an independent institution in Durban, from his first grade, where he had access to high-quality coaching and facilities and thrived. He featured for provincial school teams from U-11s to U-19s, but did not want to rely on cricket as a career. Muthusamy completed a degree in media and marketing but cricket had other plans.

 Senuran earned a call-up in South Africa’s annual spin camp to India in 2018 and the South African A side’s tour ahead of the senior side’s visit in September-October 2019, when Muthusamy was named in the Test squad. He made his Test debut against India in Visakhapatnam in October 2019 and Virat Kohli became his first Test wicket.

 ‘’It’s not easy to be a spinning allrounder in South Africa,’’ the 31-year-old, a left arm spinner, said after day’s play. However, it could be just the beginning of a Senuran 2.0 after his Player of the Series award in Pakistan and now - a priceless century for his team.