It was embarrassing to watch the Indian team succumb to an innings defeat inside 3 days in the first Test at Centurion. Infact, the batting display was shocking to say the least. With the exception of Rahul in the first innings and Kohli in the second innings, none of the other Indian batsmen showed technique, skill or the will to survive on a challenging wicket. It will not be wrong to state that South Africa swatted India away like swatting an annoying insect. This is not even that good a South African side. Dean Elgar is the most experienced with Temba Bavuma and Rabadda being the seniors. Ofcourse, they have a good bowling attack though inexperienced. Be that as it may, the display of the Indian batsmen was atrocious to say the least. Let me analyse in South Africa swats India away.
Yes, it was the players who lost on the field but what about the real culprit? The Board of Control for Cricket in India. They are the primary reason for such repeated debacles on foreign soil. None of the experts or commentators have the guts to point the finger at the board because of fear. I have written about the impotent board multiple times and hence, I do not want to repeat it. Instead, I would like to focus on the senior cricketers who remain silent all the time despite knowing the hardship involved in winning a series outside of India.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Bumrah
All of them are quite experienced. They have travelled and played in South Africa multiple times. They must be aware of the difficulties involved in winning there. The fact that it is not easy to adjust to the pace and bounce of the South African pitches immediately is another point to consider. White-ball cricket is completely different from red-ball cricket. The moment it is Tests, the pitches will be tailor-made for the South African fast bowlers. Adjusting to that without any sort of preparation is tough. Where were all these players before the tour? They were on holiday. Ofcourse, it is their prerogative but just before an important series, that too after the loss in the ODI World Cup, the onus was on the senior cricketers to put their foot down to the board and tell them in no uncertain terms that proper preparation is compulsory before the series.
The result of such a faulty preparation was there for all to see. Kohli scored a fighting 70 but by that time, the match was done and dusted. With this, India has lost one more opportunity to win a series in South Africa. This is the 3rd time. Before every South African series, the Indian senior players seem to think that all they have to do is to turn up in South Africa and they can win the series. Every time they have been proved wrong and these guys do not seem to have learnt any lesson. India must have the desire to be the best team in the world in all the formats for a very very longtime. Going by the looks of it, it seems that the players do not care about that and it is only the supporters who care about that.
Rohit Sharma does not believe in practice games
“We have been playing practice matches for the last five-six years,” he said. “We have even tried first-class matches, but we don’t get these kind of wickets in practice matches. It’s better we prepare on our own, make the pitch we want. When we last went to Australia, when we came to South Africa in 2018, the ball didn’t bounce above the knee on those pitches. In the Test, it flies above the head. Keeping these things in mind, we decided we would prepare in our own way.”
This is a load of rubbish on the part of Rohit. You are anyway batting against the bowlers in the nets. You are allowed to prepare the pitch according to the needs but it is completely different when it comes to practice games. The host may not prepare bouncy pitches but atleast, you will get to bat in the middle against a proper team. It will be a real match situation rather than some practice game within the team where the bowlers will not want to bowl at their best in fear of injuring someone.
Rohit also states that Prasidh Krishna, hasn’t played that many games because of injury. It is all the more reason to play a few practice games. Rohit knew quite well that Prasidh would be in the eleven in the absence of Shami.
It is not a question of whether the opposition played well but you were absolutely rubbish. With the bat and with the ball.
Winning in England and Australia
Rohit goes onto give the examples of England and Australia. In Australia, Indians did play a couple of practice games and in England, they reached the country 6 weeks in advance because of the Chinese virus. They were soundly thrashed by New Zealand before the WTC finals because of a lack of preparation. The long wait time before the 1st Test against England, allowed them to perform well. It really is a shame that Rohit Sharma doesn’t appreciate the necessity of good preparation. Either he is too arrogant or stupid. Let us also remember that Rohit himself has a horrendous record in that country. An average of just above 10. He wasn’t even part of the team that toured in 2021. It has been awhile since he played in South Africa. It essentially calls for thorough preparation but the board and senior cricketers did not think was necessary.
Wrapping up South Africa swats India away
Whoever becomes the President of the BCCI, things will not change. None of them cares about the image of the team or that of the country. The senior cricketers are happy so long as they did just that little bit. It is only we the poor supporters who want the team to be respected by everyone and who want the country to be respected is left with whining all the time. We the Indian cricket supporters are destined to be satisfied with the odd performance here and there.
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