‘Our batters were challenged and we didn’t adapt well’ – India skipper Rohit Sharma gives reason behind India’s loss against South Africa in 1st Test

India and South Africa met for the first Test match of India’s tour of South Africa in Centurion. The first match of the two-match test series was concluded within three days as the Indian batter fell short of a run and continued to underperform throughout both innings. 

The Indian captain Rohit Sharma recently talked about the team’s failure in the first test match. Notably, the Indian team has never won a test series in South Africa and due to a poor performance, The team will unfortunately continue the street for the 2023-25 world test championship cycle as well. 

Rohit Sharma analyzes India’s performance in the first test match against South Africa

In the post-match ceremony, Rohit Sharma talked about India’s batting performance file app appreciating KL Rahul for his knock, he said, “We were not good enough to win. Having been put into bat, KL batted well to get us that score but then we didn’t exploit the conditions with the ball and then again didn’t show up today with the bat. If we have to win Test matches, we have to come together collectively and we didn’t do that. Guys have come here before, we know what to expect and everyone has their plan.”

“Our batters were challenged and we didn’t adapt well. This is a boundary-scoring ground, we saw them score many but we need to understand the opposition and their strengths as well. We didn’t bat well in both innings, that’s why we stand here. Not too many positives to finish the game within 3 days, but KL showed what we need to do on this sort of pitch”, he added. Further while talking about the performance of Indian bowlers, Rohit said, “Our bowlers, a lot of these guys haven’t been here before so I don’t want to be too critical. Important for us to regroup, we go through these times as sportsmen and we need to be ready for the next Test now.”

“Of course, he (Prasidh Krishna) is a little bit inexperienced. He has got the tools to come out here and play the game. If I look at the bowlers that we have back in India, some of them are injured, and some are not available, so we tried picking available guys, based on conditions. I completely agree that he hasn’t played a lot of (red ball) cricket but there are three guys in their team also, who haven’t played a lot of (red ball cricket) but they showed what is required,” Sharma concluded.