Imran Tahir, a former South African spinner criticized the Proteas’ performance against the Dutch. Imran Tahir pointed out that there was a lack of character and intent by the South African batters which hurt the team as one partnership of 70-odd runs would have changed the complexion of the match.
South African cricket team would be in a state of shock after the defeat in ODI WC. Earlier, the Dutch had defeated them in the T20 WC 2022. Skipper Temba Bavuma needs to bat a bit more responsibly if the side wants to win matches against minnow teams.
South Africa might regret and think about the defeat against the Netherlands- Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir was having an interaction with Star Sports after the South Africa vs Netherlands contest. Imran Tahir pointed out that the Dutch were quite passionate and did everything right to win this contest. Imran Tahir said that Dutch had a belief in their bowling.
“It is an incredibly big loss. I think going forward South Africa might regret and think about these two points which they didn’t achieve today (on Tuesday) but all credit goes to the Dutch team,” said Imran Tahir.
“They wanted it very badly. You can see that they were very passionate and they did everything right to win this game. Really, really well done to them. They batted well, they fielded well and you saw that belief in their bowling. So credit goes to the Dutch team. They were the better team today,” he added.
The turning point was the partnerships- Imran Tahir
Imran Tahir emphasized on the fact that South African bowlers conceded way too much at the back end of the innings. Imran Tahir pointed out that Dutch getting to 245 was the turning point of the match and a couple of wickets of South African batters upfront changed the complexion of the match.
“The turning point was the partnerships. I think they (the Netherlands) shouldn’t have scored more than 150 to 170 runs the way South African bowlers bowled, but just in the end, they were a little bit off from their plans.” said Imran Tahir.
“They allowed the Dutch batters to get to 245, which was I think a very decent score on that track, which was helping the seamers. We all knew that if they lose a couple of early wickets it could be trouble for South Africa and that’s exactly what happened,” he added.