Fast bowler Umesh Yadav admitted that the Indian bowlers were surprised by the ultra defensive tactics adopted by South Africa on the penultimate day of the fourth and final cricket Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here on Sunday.
Chasing a challenging target of 481 runs, the visitors produced a gritty defensive performance to grind their way to 72/2 at the close of play on the penultimate day.
After the loss of openers Temba Bavuma and Dean Elgar, South Africa captain Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers were holding on in the middle when play was called off.
The Proteas trail by 408 runs with an entire day's play still to go. They adopted an extremely defensive strategy, blocking virtually all the deliveries that came their way in their quest to avoid defeat.
Amla scored 23 painstaking runs off 207 deliveries. He took 46 balls to open his account. The South Africa skipper is now fourth on the list of batsmen consuming most number of balls before opening their account.
De Villiers took 32 balls to get off the mark before inching his way to 11 by the close. The partnership notched up a whopping 62 dot balls before Amla brought up the first runs with a boundary off Shikhar Dhawan's first ball of the day.
"We did not expect them to play like this. The way they are defending and refusing to play their strokes is a surprise for us. They are not looking to play. Even if they get a loose ball, it seems they are defending that as well," Yadav told media persons at the end of the day's play.
"I won't say it's a difficult task, but its challenging. If the batsman refuses to play strokes, the chances of getting him out come down drastically. Even if we bowl a good ball, they are still blocking it. They are not looking to play at all," he added.
The 28-year-old opined that the South African approach has taken the excitement out of the proceedings and has made it tougher for the Indian bowlers.
"Situations like this become quite boring because you keep on bowling and nothing is happening. But the pressure is on them, so that is why they are blocking and trying to bat on as long as they can," Yadav said.
"But we have the entire day tomorrow and will try to get them out."
The right-armer opined that the spinners will have to spearhead the Indian attack on the final day as the wicket has lost much of its pace and bounce.
"Most of the pace has gone out of the wicket. The bounce is also much lower. Even the bouncers are not carrying too much. Even today it were the spinners who were at the forefront," Yadav said.
