The Indian cricket team suffered a 1-2 defeat in their recently-concluded ICC World Test Championship series against the South African cricket team, despite winning the first Test. The visitors started the tour with a historic victory at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. However, they lost the next two matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Sunil Gavaskar was unhappy with the tactics of the Indian cricket team in Cape Town.
The conditions at Newlands were challenging for the batters, but the home side easily chased down the 212-run target in the fourth innings with seven wickets in hand. South Africa defeated India inside four days despite conceding a first-innings lead. The Indian cricket team won the toss and batted first. Virat Kohli scored an excellent half-ton to help the Indian cricket team post a 223-run total on the board.
In response, the South African cricket team managed only 210 runs before losing all their wickets. New batter Keegan Petersen was the top scorer for the home team. The Indian team had a chance to set a big target.
However, barring Rishabh Pant, none of the Indian batters could get going in the second innings. The Indian cricket team was all out for just 198 runs despite Rishabh Pant’s century and 28 runs contribution from the extras. The Proteas received a 212-run target to win the game.
It was a mystery to me why Shardul Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah did not bowl after lunch: Sunil Gavaskar
Soon after the Indian cricket team’s defeat in Cape Town, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar expressed his disappointment over the way the Indian cricket team performed. He was baffled to see Jasprit Bumrah and Shardul Thakur not bowling much in the second session of the fourth day. Gavaskar was also unhappy with the field placements by the team for their off-spin bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.
“It was a mystery to me why Shardul Thakur and Jasprit Bumrah did not bowl after lunch. It was almost as if India had decided that they are not going to win this. The field placements there were for Ashwin was not right…,” said Gavaskar.
