On the eve of third and final Test of the ongoing Sunfoil Test series against South Africa, it has come as a surprise when Team India chief coach Ravi Shastri remarked more practice could have made a huge impact when the time has come to salvage some.
However, had visitors considered it early on would it leave the gaping hole?
Scrap that, the answer lies in the hands of a responsible administration.
It’s not only about the hope and opportunities it is more about the hard work.
With the third Test starting off on Wednesday, Ajinkya Rahane has been working hard at the full throttle.
On the other side, one of the forced changes is coming in the form of gloveman Dinesh Karthik after Parthiv Patel had a miserable show behind the gloves which simultaneously saw him receiving the ball on his ribcage.
“Another ten days of practice would have made a difference,” Ravi Shastri maintained in the pre-match press conference on Monday in Johannesburg.
Batting malfunction is hurting the visitors
On the seam-friendly conditions, batsmen have struggled in a nutshell which further saw the batters throwing it away.
On the last tour, India somewhat batted well on the familiar condition as the well-oiled unit on the batting front has been miserable expect a couple of individual performances in the Rainbow nation.
Moreover, the visiting side landed on the South African soil soon after the culmination of home series against Sri Lanka.
Why do I feel the bowling unit hasn’t been hampered too much?
Under the leadership of Virat Kohli, it was seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who played the first-ever Test in South Africa and on the very first morning in Cape Town Test the pace spearhead delivered goods to receive the praise.
The chopping and change doesn’t work all-time
Kohli has this knack of bringing the surprise in the line-up which has further proved by the leadership in the recent past, however, it is not always possible to yield the desired results or stop the top-notch teams owing to the winning ways.
Bleak with the bat, the major problem on South African tour for the Indian batters have been tackling the short-balls by not acclimatizing the conditions.
The bowlers might have been slow, but they have been somewhat accurate while the hosts batted sensibly.
Tinkering the side somewhat demoralize the team when it comes to playing away from home, as Indian batters had often wrestled in the nets to salvage some pride.
Practice on the green turf
With a week before Team India might find it enough time for the preparations when the first Test of the three-match Sunfoil series kicked off on January 5 at the Newlands.
Since past four weeks, the batsmen have toggled in the nets in a bid to face to adjust to the pace and bounce which didn’t happen during the week-long preparations.
Shastri might have been pushing his wards to salvage some pride in the Wanderers Test as the surface is expected to be the repeat action of the Cape Town Test.
It’s not always about aggression it’s about knitting the unit well.
You can also get the match reports in detail here: Ball by Ball Commentary
For the detailed scorecard, Sportzwiki is the platform which has all in it as cricket scorecard and the avid readers could further follow the live cricket score on the go.