Team India Captain Rohit Sharma said that the visitors’ batting performance in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion was inadequate.
He, on the other hand, stated that the squad should not be cast out after a single poor performance, citing their recent Test performances in Australia and England.
India was defeated by South Africa by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test on Thursday, December 28. India was bowled out for 245 and 131, respectively, while the Proteas scored 408 in their lone innings.
During the post-match news conference, Rohit acknowledged South Africa as being the superior team in the first Test. He, on the other hand, stated that they are confident of mounting a robust counter-offensive.
He downplayed the batting collapses in Centurion
Yes, we had a similar performance here. But keep in mind what we did in Australia and England. We won the series in Australia, and our batters performed admirably. “We drew a series in England and shone with both bat and ball,” the 36-year-old remarked.
These kinds of performances occur. Outside of India, we don’t know how to bat. Opponents can sometimes outplay us and win games. That’s what I believe occurred here.
It’s not like the opponent batted 110 overs, and we didn’t bat nearly as many batting both innings. Go look at our records from the last four visits outside of India.
Except for KL Rahul, who hit a century in the first innings, and Virat Kohli, who produced a half-century in the second, none of the Indian batsmen had a big influence in the Centurion Test.
Better that we prepare according to our needs – Rohit Sharma on missing out on a first-class practice match
Before the first Test against South Africa, India did not play any first-class practice matches. He justified the team’s choice, claiming that the surfaces utilized for practice games are much different from those used in games.
We’ve been playing practice matches for around 4-5 years. We also attempted to play first-rate matches. The wicket that you acquire in the contests will not be available in the practice matches.
We should prepare by our needs. We prepare the pitch according to our specifications. “We can control the ground,” Rohit said.
The ball didn’t bounce past the knee-roll on practice pitches the previous time we went to Australia when we played in South Africa in 2018. But in this case, the ball sails over your head. So, after considering all of this, we decided to prepare our unique approach,” he said.
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