IND vs SA 2nd Test: Why Tea Break Was Taken Ahead Of Lunch On Day 1 Of Guwahati Test | Explained

India vs South Africa 2nd Test: In an interesting turn of events, the tea break was taken at the end of the first session in the ongoing India vs South Africa 2nd Test at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Sunday.

It’s officially the first time in 148 years of Test cricket that the sequence has been flipped in a regular day game. Traditionally, a Test day goes toss-lunch-team-stumps, but in Guwahati, it's toss-tea-lunch-stumps. The surprising change has taken place during the IND vs SA 2nd Test due to the geographical location of Guwahati, which is in the far eastern part of India, where darkness falls earlier than in other places.

Why Tea Break Has Taken Place Ahead Of Lunch During IND vs SA 2nd Test?

The move was aimed at avoiding the loss of overs due to bad light. Notably, the ongoing IND vs SA Guwahati Test game witnessed a half-hour early start, at 9:00 pm IST.

Interestingly, Guwahati's geographical location is at around 90°E longitude, much ahead of the Indian Standard Time meridian at 82.5°E. However, it follows IST like the rest of India; this region sees early sunrises and sunsets compared to other places. The first session was played from 9 AM to 11 AM.

It is to be noted that the ongoing IND vs SA match is the first-ever Test match being played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. It becomes the 30th venue in India to host a red-ball international match.

India vs South Africa 2nd Test Playing XIs

India: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj