Sunil Gavaskar, former Indian cricketer turned commentator for the India vs South Africa series, lambasted the attitude and body language of the Indian on the morning of the 3rd day of the 1st Test. India went on to lose the match by an innings defeat.
Sunil Gavaskar was spot-on with his observations. There was a deathly blow from Dean Elgar on the 2nd day with his imperious batting that led to South Africa setting itself up for a decent total. The beginning of 3rd day’s play saw Elgar and Marko Jansen in great touch.
Batting pair thrash Indian bowlers
It seems the South African batsmen forgot that they were playing in a Test match. Elgar was enjoying himself before his retirement. Jansen twisted the knife on the Indian bowlers and made merry, toying with Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, scoring nearly six runs an over.
Indians had already given up
It seems the beating they got from Elgar on the 2nd day was still fresh on their minds. The body language on the field said ‘defeat’. Sadly, cricket needs lots of hard work to win a match. You cannot get a batter out with prayers only. Well, even the Gods were annoyed with the attitude of the Indian players.
The shoulders were drooping when the Indians came to bat.
The batting performance was a procession, barring the sole efforts of the Talisman Virat Kohli. The writing was on the wall when you saw the Indian batters walking to the pitch to bat. No confidence at all.
Indians are poor starters when they travel to SENA
For the nth time, India lost the first test match overseas. It is hard to remember a Test match where they showed some fight in the first match of an overseas tour.
Why is it so?
Lack of acclimatisation
With the cricket calendar remaining choc-a-block, players do not have time to acclimatize and get used to the conditions in the touring country. This is truer when the Indian players were playing white-ball cricket in Indian conditions.
Lack of practice matches
The hectic calendar does not provide the space for practice matches with local teams. There are only practice sessions on the nets. Players do not desire to play a match in overseas tours and cannot carry their learnings from net practice to the pitch.
Players could have travelled earlier
Many of the players in the Test squad were not playing the white ball series against Australia in India. The BCCI could have sent the players a few days earlier to acclimatise and play practice matches. Or maybe, the players did not want to.
Humongous effort to come back in the series
India will start the 2nd Test in a few day’s time with a serious disadvantage. With their backs to the wall, it will be a miraculous effort for them to level the series. Looking at their body language, it seems unlikely.
‘Listless’: Sunil Gavaskar questions India’s attitude on Star Sports in a scathing attack after Elgar, Jansen flattens toothless bowlers.