Team India suffered a horrible defeat in the second test of their ongoing series against South Africa and with it they have lost the golden opportunity of winning the series on the Proteas’ home turf and thus creating history. The Blues had the clear advantage at one point but pretty much bottled it up with their poor display in the last two days. In this article let us discuss what went wrong.
There was a big change in Team India’s lineup for the second test. Indian skipper Virat Kohli injured himself and was thus replaced by Hanuma Vihari. Fortunately that was not that problematic as the latest addition to the team fit in quite well. Infact Hanuma Vihari was the last man standing of Team India in their second innings. When all the other wickets of India fell down like a deck of cards, Hanuma Vihari stood there strong.
Unlike the other games, it was not Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara’s fault as well. Well they did fumble in the first innings and scored single digit runs (Rahane scored a golden duck) but that was covered up by the other players. Also, they scored a half century each in the second innings and were the two highest run scorers.
Instead, the real problem was, according to many netizens, Rishabh Pant and Mayank Agarwal. Rishabh Pant’s callous dismissal is still under scrutiny from the fans and he is being seriously criticized for how irresponsible he was. Infact, even the Indian tailender Jasprit Bumrah has maintained a better average than Rishabh Pant since the England test series ! That is a staggering and worrying stat for the wicket-keeper.
The other player to be held responsible for the loss may be Mohammed Siraj. He played very well in the first match but he picked up zero wickets in the second match – both the innings combined. Given how much the fast bowlers have been favoured on this pitch so far, a better performance was expected off him.