IND vs SA: Siraj-Prasidh and Shardul got warning from Captain Rohit, Rohit also looked unhappy with the batting of Shubman-Shreyas

Team India had to face defeat in the Centurion Test against South Africa. The performance of Indian bowlers was disappointing in this match. While the African bowlers wreaked havoc in both the innings and bowled out Team India for 245 runs in the first innings and 131 runs in the second innings, South Africa made a mammoth score of 408 runs against the Indian bowlers.

Captain Rohit Sharma has targeted the Indian bowlers. He said that Jasprit Bumrah bowled brilliantly, but he did not get any help from the other end. The captain said that the African bowlers showed how to bowl on this track and 400 runs were not possible on this pitch. Bumrah took four wickets. At the same time, Siraj got two wickets. Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna and R Ashwin got one wicket each.

‘There was no wicket of 400 runs’

In the press conference after the match, Rohit said, ‘It was not a 400-run wicket and we gave away a lot of runs. We gave runs all over the ground, but it happens. One cannot depend on one particular bowler (Bumrah), the other three fast bowlers also needed to play their roles. We can learn from South Africa’s bowling. However, Rohit admitted that there was no lack of effort but Bumrah alone could not put pressure on the South African batsmen.

Rohit praised Bumrah

He said, ‘Bumrah bowled well and we all know his quality. He just wanted a little support from the other end which he did not get. it happens. The other three tried hard, but it did not happen the way we wanted. But matches like this teach you a lot about what you want to do as a bowling unit. The young Prasidh has played 12 first-class matches so far, but he could not find the bounce at SuperSport Park and gave away 93 runs in 20 overs in the debut Test and got just one wicket. Captain Rohit admitted that Prasidh is not injured, but insisted that the team management has confidence in him.

What did Rohit say about Prasidh?

“Of course, he is a little inexperienced,” he said. He has enough capabilities to play at this level. Obviously if I look at the bowlers present in India, some of them are injured, some are not available, so we tried to choose the players available depending on the conditions. I completely agree that Prasidh has not played much red-ball cricket, but there are three more players in this team who have not played much Test cricket, but have proved themselves.

Rohit said- I think it is in the mind. How you treat your mind and how you play with it is more important. It doesn’t help if you think I haven’t played much Test or first-class cricket. When you get a chance you should be grateful and focus on doing better for the team. We all are nervous playing our first game and obviously he (Prasidh) will also be nervous. Such things keep happening. We will support them.

Rohit remembered the England-Australia tour

Rohit also said that this same team has performed in England and Australia. The captain said- There is no need to motivate the players. They are all international cricketers. This performance is just one. Don’t forget what we did in Australia and England. We won in Australia with our batting. We drew the match in England with batting and bowling. It is not that we do not know how to bat outside India. Sometimes the opposing team plays better than you. It is not that he batted 110 overs and we could not do that either. You go and check the scorecard of the last four or five overseas tours that we have done.

Rohit praised KL Rahul

Giving the example of KL Rahul, Rohit said that every batsman has his own technique and when they come for a challenging series like South Africa, it is important that they have a customized strategy. He said, ‘Look what KL Rahul did in the first innings. This is a perfect example of showing intent to stay on the pitch as well as respecting the conditions. He scored at a strike-rate of 70 and he kept the good balls away from him. He did not take anyone’s name, but Rohit did not look happy with the way Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill batted.

Rohit looked unhappy with Shubman-Shreyas

He said, ‘We cannot just go on the field and play with the bat in the air. This is not the right place to do this. You have to understand that there is a thin line between showing intention and discipline. Everyone is different and we try to talk to each individual about how they want to play and what they can do given the circumstances. It’s a mix of everything, intention, a bit of discipline and you can’t go in with just one mindset in these situations.