South African cricketer Ryan Rickelton takes a sharp catch to dismiss Team India batsman Sai Sudarshan on day three of the second Test (Monday, November 24) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Rickelton almost dropped the catch before taking the catch in his second attempt to remove the left-handed batsman.
Team India started the second day’s play with 9/0, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are present at the crease. Rahul was out after scoring 22 runs on 63 balls off the bowling of left arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. Sudarshan, who was dropped from the playing eleven for the first Test in Kolkata, returned to bat at No. 3 in the morning session.
WATCH: Ryan Rickelton takes sharp catch to dismiss Sai Sudarshan
India were in trouble when Sai Sudarshan was out for 15 runs. Ryan Rickelton took a sharp catch at midwicket. Sudarshan pulled a short ball from Simon Harmer, but it went straight to the fielder.
Rickelton dived to his left and initially lofted the ball, which missed his hand. However, he managed to recover quickly and pulled the ball safely into his chest at the second attempt.
The umpires check with the TV official to confirm whether the catch was completed cleanly. Replays showed that the ball never touched the ground and that Rickelton had the ball firmly in his grip when he completed his dive. The host team was in a difficult position due to the wickets in the morning session.
– Crictalk (@crictalk7) 24 November 2025
Team India is in trouble after losing four wickets in the first session on the third day.
South Africa’s spinners took control on the third day, putting India under pressure. Keshav Maharaj opened the batting by replacing KL Rahul. Simon Harmer further dismantled the top order by dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal (58) and Sai Sudarshan (15).
Just before the players went for tea, Marco Jansen compounded India’s problems by dismissing Dhruv Jurel for a duck. At the time of writing, India’s score at the tea break was 102 runs for 4 wickets, with Rishabh Pant (6) and Ravindra Jadeja (0) at the crease.
Earlier in the match, Senuran Muthusamy scored 109 runs from 206 balls, while Marco Jansson scored 93 runs from 91 balls. Kyle Wren (45) also played a key role as the Proteas went from 246/6 to a mammoth total of 489 in their first innings.
Sai Sudarshan needs to score runs against better teams – Murali Karthik
Former India cricketer Murali Karthik said Sai Sudarshan, who has regained his No. 3 spot, also needs to score runs against strong opponents to cement his place. He said that with Shubman Gill unavailable, India were forced into an unstable batting arrangement.
“It has been a tough day for him and looking at the playing XI, what do you think about that? Yashasvi Jaiswal has a very good Test record, but not against South Africa. So is there some hangover going on, where you think about the runs, but also about the opponent?”
“Sai Sudarshan is back and he also needs to score runs against better teams as he has lost his spot at No. 3. You have promoted Jurel up the order with Shubman Gill not being there,” Karthik said.
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