Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif questioned Rishabh Pant’s tactics after India suffered a 30-run loss against South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday. Pant took the captaincy onus after Shubman Gill could not take the field due to a neck spasm.
However, Kaif reckons India gave South Africa too many easy singles in the second innings. The Proteas were tottering at 93-7 at the end of the second day’s play but posted 153 runs on the board after Temba Bavuma scored a fighting knock of 55 runs. Furthermore, Corbin Bosch scored a crucial knock of 25 runs.
Pant kept deep fielders and thus singles were easily available for the South African batters.
“We gave them too many singles. Is it easy to score against four spinners on a turning track? Keep a mid-on, bring the point up, and ask the batters to take the challenge. The fielders were behind and 70-80% of their runs came in singles. Pant kept an in and out field with Gill not there and that also had an effect. He also took some time to understand things,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
Kaif said India deeply missed the services of Shubman Gill, who could not bat due to an injury. Gill’s absence proved to be costly as India had a batter short.
“There would have been a difference if Gill was there. He could not play both innings. If we got a better lead, say 50, 60 or 100 runs, we would put South Africa out of the game there itself. It was a miss. Not having him on the field as captain was also a miss. In the second innings he was not there in the chase. So there is definitely a direct connection as Gill is one of our best batters at the moment. He is in form as well such a player can save you in such situations,” he reflected.
On the other hand, Kaif praised Temba Bavuma’s captaincy in the final innings. Bavuma got Aiden Markram into the attack in place of Keshav Maharaj, and the former was able to account for Washington Sundar, who was going strongly after scoring 31 runs.
“South Africa’s strength has been their fielding and captaincy, history is witness to this. When Markram got Sundar out, praise Bavuma as a captain that he stopped Maharaj and got Markram in there. Sundar was a set batter at that point. Whenever they got any chances, there were fielders there too. You talk about the fielding and the bowling changes. They even won without Rabada,” he said.
India and South Africa will take on each other in the second Test at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, from Saturday onwards.
