In the opening Test match against South Africa, Indian captain Rohit Sharma acknowledged that his team didn’t “bowl well” because the wicket “wasn’t a 400-run wicket”. India lost to South Africa on Thursday by an innings and thirty-two runs, a crushing defeat. In his farewell series, Dean Elgar demonstrated temperament with vigour, scoring an incredible 185 after their bowlers had played brilliantly in the first innings.
During the post-match press conference, Rohit discussed India’s poor bowling performance, saying, “We didn’t bowl well.” This wicket wasn’t worth 400 runs. This occurs because we gave away a lot of runs. One bowler cannot be relied upon too much; the other bowlers must perform to the best of their abilities. The way the opposition bowled can teach us something.” He continued by praising KL Rahul for his outstanding batting performance. When India was losing wickets in the first innings, Rahul showed resilience by scoring a tonne of runs, helping the team reach 245 points.
“KL Rahul’s action in the first wicket is an excellent illustration of demonstrating intent while also being mindful of the circumstances. He put the bad balls away and scored at a strike rate of 70. When discussing intent, we don’t want to go out and throw caution to the wind because that isn’t going to happen and isn’t the right situation to be in. You have to realise that there is a very thin line between demonstrating that discipline and that kind of intent,” Rohit continued. South Africa dominated the first Test handily. With his five wicket haul, Rabada put India under pressure. KL Rahul scored a counterattacking century of 101, but Elgar’s amazing 185 quickly eclipsed it.
Day 3: India’s batters were pushed back against the wall by Nandre Burger’s deadly bouncers and accurate line and length. A match that appeared destined for the fourth day was wrapped up on the third day. South Africa’s pace trio of Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, and Burger exploited India’s batting order, leaving the Indian hitters completely exposed. The only batter who could consistently score runs on such a surface was Virat Kohli, who proved to be too much for the other batters. South Africa hit hard at India after a poor start to their second innings, dismissing KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession.
Once Burger substituted a golden duck for Ravichandran Ashwin, India’s destiny was all but decided.
Disappointment followed Jasprit Bumrah’s runout after Dean Elgar’s outstanding fielding effort. Mohammed Siraj brilliantly reviewed the situation and saw that the ball was gloving straight to the wicketkeeper. India’s struggle was over in the first three days when Jansen defeated Kohli (76), despite a valiant effort by Prasidh Krishna.
