South Africa lead 2-0 against Team India
The problems for team India just do not seem to end. How South Africa has turned their game around has put thrown India out of the driver’s seat. Anybody could have bet their money on the fact that India had started as favorites but their on-field performances in the last two encounters haven’t done justice to the kind of prowess they have as a team. How the series has progressed so far imposes a lot of questions. Questions on resting the big guns such as Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohliand Mohammad Shami. Questions on the direction the team is heading to. Questions on Rishabh Pant’s captaincy and the tactics that he is trying to use.
After the debacle of the 2021 T20I World Cup and after the complete overhaul of the team management, problems do not seem to stop for the Indian T20I team. Certainly, the form can not be blamed because most of the players representing India in this series are coming out of a fabulous IPL season. It is a collective failure and one or the other individual can’t be blamed. In the first T20I, the batting clicked, but the bowling let the team down. Going in the second T20I, the bowling created pressure on the opposition in the powerplay but the batsmen just could not accelerate and express themselves. Bhuvneshwar Kumar recently came out and took the blame that the bowling unit could not perform to its potential in the first T20I. These are testing times for the Indian team and someone needs to put their hand up and take responsibility for the things that unfolded in the second T20I.
As far as both the games go, middle overs have been a huge area of pain for team India. They just could not get things together with the bat and also couldn’t strangle the opposition for runs. The boys in blue repeatedly failed to create any kind of pressure and as a result, the opposition kept on hammering them and kept the run rate in control. Heinrich Klaasen caused the same kind of damage in the second T20I that Rassie van der Dussen did in the first T20I. Fielding also has been a cause of worry for team India with catches being dropped. These were the chances that made the Indian team pay.
India now heads to Vizag which is a do-or-die game for them. South Africa, who were the underdogs have leaped miles ahead of the boys in blue who now have a catching game to play. With just a day in-between two games, skipper Pant and coach Dravid have a lot to sort. It seems likely that a debut cap might be handed over, but only time will tell what is running through the minds in the Indian camp as of now.