At Newlands, the bowlers bowled their hearts out, but the batsmen failed to show a spine. Just as the Indian players were celebrating South Africa’s pre-lunch collapse, a home-team fan stood up and shouted, “Virat, remember you need to bat here.” He statement was actually reminding the Indian captain about his batting unit’s not-so-good flattering record abroad.
However, the taunt proved true. Indian batting line-up has to live with the tag of ‘backyard bullies’ for some more time. Early in the day, it had looked like India was penning a new chapter. By evening, it read like the same old story. India suffered a 72-run defeat against South Africa in the first Test at Newlands, Cape Town on Monday.
Vernon Philander bagged career-best 6/42 to help South Africa defeat India and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The hosts had resumed play on Day 4 with a healthy lead of 142, but despite being bundled out in one session, came back to wrap the match up a little after tea, courtesy Vernon Philander.
The Test changed complexion inside two sessions with India skittling out South Africa for 130 in the morning session after they resumed on the overnight total of 65. Bumrah (3 for 39) and Shami (3 for 28) were the main wreckers-in-chief. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 33) and Hardik Pandya (2 for 27) gave them ample support. The Proteas lead was thus limited to 207 runs.
But after the lunch break, the hosts turned the tables with their pacers running through visitor’s batting line-up like a hot knife through butter. India was bundled out for 135 with Vernon Philander returning career-best figures of 6/42, as the visitors hurtled to a 72-run defeat against South Africa on Day 4 of the first Test.
Team India skipper Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation said they are looking forward to working hard and improve in the next game while adding the bowlers have done their job and credit goes to South Africa for making most of the familiar conditions which subsequently saw him ruing while missing couple of opportunities.
“If we had taken our chances in the first innings, even after them counter-attacking, we could have kept them to 220. We’re not a team which thinks of what-ifs though,” Kohli started off while responding to Shaun Pollock’s question.
The 28-year-old Kohli, who scored five in the first and 28 in the second innings, has further praised the bowling effort and remarked they have made the mistakes and pointed out they were looking to have a player who could have added minimum of 75 on the board.
“We were thinking 250, 275 if they play well. It was a great effort by the bowlers. We needed someone to get a 75-80. Credit to them, they were a bowler short and still bowled their heart out. We need to rectify our mistakes also,” Kohli maintained.
“Mini collapses in both innings is something we have to think about. This game is all about stringing in partnerships. They did that better than us. Bowlers learned pretty quickly,” Kohli asserted. The pace trio for the Proteas in the form Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada has sent India into the pressure situation early on before wrapping the innings in 42.4 overs on 135.
“We kept pulling things back against a side which is very strong about us. The mindset matters when you’re traveling away from home. You need to grab scoring opportunities. Hardik Pandya is a strong character. He’s performing for us now, even away from home. That knock was brilliant,” Kohli concluded. Pandya was the top-scorer for India with 93 off 95 balls.
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