The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team endured a tough second day in the first Test against South Africa in Centurion on Wednesday. When bad light forced early stumps, South Africa had already taken a 11-run lead with five wickets remaining courtesy Den Elgar’s classy unbeaten 140. Before that KL Rahul’s 101 had taken India to 245, which many experts felt was a decent enough total. The start of India’s bowling was not bad either as Mohammed Siraj dismissed Aiden Markram cheaply.
But after that, Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi stitched a great stand as South Africa went to Lunch at 49/1. After Lunch, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur were given the charge. The two bowled eight overs between them before Jasprit Bumrah was brought on. By then, the score had reached 91/1 with Elgar completing his half-century too.
Former Indian cricket team coach Ravi Shastri did not like the idea of using Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur right after lunch.
“On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch),” said Ravi Shatri, former Indian cricket team coach, during commentary on Star Sports.
“That’s something that we’ve had a discussion multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session. If you cast your mind back, India would feel they have missed a massive trick in the first half hour of play. Two bowlers they started with, that tactically was a big mistake.”
Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Ravi Shastri’s opinion. “Clearly India missed the trick. This is something Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma must have thought about during the break and then decided to go with Prasidh and Shardul.”
Former South Africa pacer Vernon Philander felt that the strategy might have been used to keep Jasprit Bumrah. “Perhaps they wanted to preserve him (Bumrah) after the 6-over spell he bowled (before lunch). I think it’s a window of opportunity that India lost. India gave away 42 runs and that gave South Africa the momentum after lunch. They lost an opportunity,” he said.
“On any pecking order, these two (Shardul and Prasidh) would have been the last to start the proceedings (after lunch),” said Shastri on commentary. The former India all-rounder seemed bemused and a tad irritated by India’s tactics. “That’s something that we’ve had a discussion multiple times when I was the coach. And more often than not we decided to go with the best two bowlers at the start of the session.”
“If you cast your mind back, India would feel they have missed a massive trick in the first half hour of play. Two bowlers they started with that tactically was a big mistake,” he emphasized.
Concurring with Shastri, Manjrekar said, “Clearly India missed the trick. This is something Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma must have thought about during the break and then decided to go with
Prasidh and Shardul.”
Former South Africa pacer Vernon Philander tried to think of a reason behind the strategy and said, “Perhaps they wanted to preserve him (Bumrah) after the 6-over spell he bowled (before lunch). I think it’s a window of opportunity that India lost. India gave away 42 runs and that gave South Africa the momentum after lunch. They lost an opportunity.”
At the time of Stumps, South Africa’s score read 256/5 -lead by 11 runs- with Elgar (140) and Marco Jansen (3) unbeaten at the crease. Runs flowed from the bats of Elgar and David Bedingham, but India made crucial breakthroughs before bad light cut play short.
The last session of the day started with the debutant David Bedingham slamming a half-century while rotating the strike with Dean Elgar continuously. However, Mohammed Siraj provided India with a much-needed breakthrough as he removed debutant Bedingham for 56, breaking a solid partnership.
With ANI inputs
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