But during South Africa’s second innings, the 39-year-old expressed his worries about Rishabh Pant, the stand-in skipper, and his body language.
At the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India faces South Africa in the second Test match with their backs to the wall. The Asian powerhouses must win the second and final Test to avoid losing the series after losing the first Test in Kolkata by 30 runs.
But South Africa has already extended their lead in the second innings past 500 runs, and it appears that the Men in Blue will lose their second home Test series since Gautam Gambhir became head coach last year.
South Africa got off to a strong start in their second batting session after India gave up a 288-run advantage in the first innings. But former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin encouraged the home team to put up a good batting effort in the fourth innings and make it difficult for the Proteas.
Ashwin wrote on X (previously Twitter), “I really hope we can bounce back while batting in the second innings, but the indications on the pitch with respect to body language.”
I really hope we can bounce back while batting in the 2nd innings, but the indications on the field with respect to body language 💔. #indvsa pic.twitter.com/Iui9dSsQTD
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) November 25, 2025
Due to a neck injury sustained while batting at Eden Gardens earlier this month, regular captain Shubman Gill was unable to play in the current match, therefore Pant made his Test captaincy debut. The Delhi cricket player hasn’t performed well, though, either as a batsman or as captain.
He got out to a careless shot while batting, which infuriated his Indian supporters even if some of the defensive fields he set in the first innings were ridiculed. Out of eight deliveries, the 28-year-old only managed seven runs.
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