Guwahati, Nov. 25 -- South Africa wanted to make India grovel and force them to spend far more time on the field than they would have preferred, which is why the visitors batted an hour into the third session on day four of the Guwahati Test. By stretching their lead to 548 before declaring, they effectively shut the door on any possibility of an Indian victory, as per ESPNcricinfo.

This was head coach Shukri Conrad's reasoning when asked why South Africa felt the need to set India a target far beyond the record chase of 418, especially in a series they already lead 1-0.

"We obviously looked at how best we were going to use the new ball, because in the morning we still wanted a newish, hardish ball," Conrad said, as quoted from ESPNcric...