IND v SA | Test cricket is tough, but you’ve got to just hang in there and plug away, admits Senuran Muthusamy
Debutant Senuran Muthusamy admitted that the longest version of the game was already proving to be tough after all the bowlers toiled without reward on day one of first Test at Visakhapatnam. Although he only bowled five overs, Muthusamy knows he will have a bigger role as the match progresses.
From receiving throwdowns in the back garden during the fondest days in his childhood from his grandmother to making it to the highest level of international cricket, it has been a long road for South Africa’s Muthusamy. He finished with 33 wickets in 10 matches at 26.54 during the 2017-18 season, bagging four prizes at the Dolphins’ — the first-class level franchise he represents — annual awards.Â
However, his first day as a Protea player would prove to be a fruitless and unrewarding toil as the Indian openers piled on an unbeaten 202-run stand before rain stopped play. But the left-arm leggie is confident that he can turn it around as the pitch deteriorates as the match moves along.Â
"You've got to be competing every ball. You've just got to hang in there, you've just got to plug away and just try gain control from that. This wicket has been under cover for quite a few days but we know that it's been dry, really, really dry, even though its been under the covers and it's been dusty. It will deteriorate through the game," Muthusamy was quoted saying by ESPNCricinfo.Â
On day one, it was fellow left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj who bore much of the workload with the ball. Like Maharaj and at least another 1.3 million other South Africans, Muthusamy traces his ancestry back to India and still has family in Nagapattinam, some 300 kilometers off the city of Chennai. And although he described his family culture as "very much Indian", he admitted that his roots do not run deep enough to divide his loyalties.
"My forefathers are from the south of India in Tamil Nadu, so it's been really special. I am firmly South African. I am quite a few generations down the line. I unfortunately, don't speak Tamil so I am a thoroughbred South African but there's no getting away from that - our origins are in India," Muthusamy added.