A lot at stake as India set to take on Proteas in India’s newest Test venue

A lot is at stake when India walk out for the second Test against South Africa on Saturday — for a team that once dominated home conditions with an air of invincibility, for head coach Gautam Gambhir whose puzzling selection calls have repeatedly left his support staff answering uncomfortable questions, and for BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia alongside the Assam Cricket Association, who have waited six long years to host Guwahati’s first-ever Test and can ill afford the 30th Test venue in the country being remembered for the wrong reasons.

- TRIDIB BAPARNASH

Against this backdrop, Rishabh Pant will step into uncharted territory of leading the home outfit in the absence of Shubman Gill, with the hosts desperate to level the two-match series after the Proteas convincingly wrapped up the opening Test within three days at the Eden Gardens. Trailing 0-1 India, unusually, enter a home Test as underdogs, a position scarcely associated with the sides that dominated visiting teams for nearly three decades.

But that era of home domination has gradually faded away after New Zealand's Ajaz Patel and Mitchell Santner exposed technical frailties in 2024, and South Africa’s Simon Harmer and his spin-bowling colleagues have since amplified those vulnerabilities against spin. India’s young batting group has looked short on both conviction and technique on surfaces that demand clarity of defence and decisive footwork.